The Conservatives hailed a “community fightback” as the party defied the pundits and held onto Bexley Council – despite a determined effort from Reform UK.
Both the Tories and Labour lost some seats to Reform – but Nigel Farage’s party failed to carve the same inroads in Bexley that it made nationwide and across the river in Havering, where it won the council.
Conservative council leader David Leaf, who managed to hold on to his Blendon & Penhill seat after winning the largest vote share, said: “We are delighted to have retained control of Bexley council.
“We campaigned hard to deliver a positive local message and we are grateful to residents for putting their trust in us.
“Reform has no idea and doesn’t care about our community. Our residents have shown them the door. The community fightback starts here.”
The Conservatives won 29 out of 45 seats, a comfortable majority despite being down four seats from four years ago.
Reform gained its first seven seats on the council, in Crayford, Belvedere, Northumberland Heath and West Heath. Labour ended up with nine seats, down from 12 in 2022.
Losing both seats in Northumberland Heath to Sean Blackstone and Chris Purfield from Reform – only the second result of the night – came as a bitter blow to Labour, but the landslide borough-wide victory predicted by Reform and election forecasters failed to materialise.
But as the night went on and results went against them, Reform campaigners and candidates refused to speak to journalists. Some even failed to take the podium for announcements of seats they had not managed to grab.
One of the party’s Crook Log candidates, Eamonn Delaney, repeatedly took their place onstage, alongside a 19-year-old party spokesman, Jamie Rippingale. Delaney told The Greenwich Wire: “They will speak when I decide.”
Many commentators thought Bexley was Reform’s best chance of victory in London. And while it made significant gains, Reform finished long way from the party’s hopes of sweeping into power.
Delaney said: “Unfortunately the Tories got overall control. We feel that has been down to tactical voting. We have increased our vote share and taken seats off the Tories and Labour.”
Conservative councillor Janice Ward-Wilson, who was re-elected in Crook Log, said her party had been far from complacent in the run-up to the election.
She said: “It’s been an election like no other. In the last general election, people were shy to say they were voting Reform. That is no longer the case. There has been a lot of tactical voting. A lot of Labour voters agreed to vote for us to keep Reform out.
“It is no longer a two-horse race. Reform is a movement and everything is changing.”
Labour leader Stefano Borella, who was still waiting to hear if he had held onto his Slade Green and Northend seat, said: “It is a better night than people predicted. This was Reform’s number one target in London but they have not taken the majority of the council.”
When Slade Green and Northend finally declared at 8.30pm, Borella was 74 votes ahead of third-placed Reform rival John McDermont. Labour’s Donna Briant was just one vote ahead and scraped home.
Labour lost two of the five wards it won in 2022. The Conservatives held onto 11 wards, although the vote in West Heath was split with Reform, and the council’s deputy leader Melvin Seymour lost his seat.
One surprising element of the night was the camaraderie between Conservative and Labour candidates, who hugged and congratulated one another on their successes, or commiserated on their losses.
Longlands councillor Lisa-Jane Moore hugged Labour’s Zainab Asunramu after her re-election in Thamesmead East, as fellow Tory Oscar Harrison wept tears of joy beside her.
Labour won all three seats in Thamesmead East, two in Erith and two in Belvedere. Asunramu said: “I grew up there so it is nice to be able to represent the people I love and care about.
“It is an area of high deprivation and they know that we are the party that can deliver for them locally. This is a decisive result. I am really glad Thamesmead East still has faith in us.”
Turnout was as high as 53 per cent in some wards, with West Heath, Longlands, St Mary’s & St James, and Blackfen & Lamorbey drawing out the highest number of voters. Thamesmead East had the lowest number of voters at 29 per cent.
The overall turnout of 45.74 per cent was considerably higher than in 2022, when just 32.8 per cent of the local population came out to vote.
Moore, who defeated Reform to win back her Longlands seat, said: “The voters have shown who they want to protect their green spaces and ensure it is a beautiful place to live in and raise a family.”
The night was particularly sweet for Conservative councillor June Slaughter, who has served more than half a century and was re-elected to her Sidcup seat with 2,267 votes, coming second to fellow Tory Terry Barcock.
Slaughter first stood in the 1974 local elections as a 31-year-old and despite walking on crutches, waited through the night for the results.
She said: “I have found it so rewarding. The job is even more interesting now because of all the changes over the years, from the financing of local government to the political challenge in the rise of Reform.”
Slaughter was recognised with an MBE last year and said she planned to celebrate her win with a cup of tea.
Updated at 9pm with Slade Green result.
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