xLondon matters to Labour across the country. One in seven Labour MPs represents a London constituency, compared with one in four before 2024. Labour holds 11 of the 25 London Assembly seats, and one in six Labour councillors is based in the capital. London is also home to a large share of our members.
I’ve been active in London politics since the early 80s, became a councillor in 1990, joined the London Assembly in 2000 and have led its Labour Group since 2004. This year’s local election results in London were among the most challenging I have known. We need to focus on what comes next.
Labour took a hard knock in London’s May elections. We lost around 460 councillors. Our vote fell from 40 percent to just over 25 percent. We lost councils we had led for decades.
There are reasons to hope. Andy Burnham’s arrival as Prime Minister has brought new energy. Conference gave Labour a clearer sense of what we want to do too.
London Labour needs to keep up the momentum
Sagal Abdi-Wali beat Green leader Zack Polanski in Holborn and St Pancras with 45 percent. In council by-elections, we have gained seats from the Greens in Haringey and Camden while a marginal seat in Wandsworth was held with an increased majority.
These results don’t prove we’ve recovered completely though. They give us a start. But our opponents are already choosing candidates, building teams and raising money for the next set of crucial elections in 2028. We need to get on with that work.
Sadiq Khan has a great record as Mayor of London. Free school meals, cleaner air, low fares and now the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street are all things Labour and Londoners are proud of. He has every right to decide whether to stand again and when to announce it. I respect that.
But I would welcome a decision and announcement on his future sooner rather than later. It would help Labour plan for the next Mayoral and Assembly elections.
Waiting until late 2027 could leave just months to prepare. Our opponents may have been organising and raising money for a year or more.
Whatever he decides, Labour’s preparations cannot wait. We should begin selecting our 25 Assembly candidates for constituencies and the London-wide list as soon as possible, independently of the mayoral selection process.
Alongside an early selection timetable, the NEC and London Region should be considering funding, organisers and campaign teams across the capital.
Training, fundraising and development
In 2024, hundreds of Labour activists from central London travelled across the country to campaign in marginal seats. It was the right decision. But it also meant that many local parties in areas previously considered safe, including much of London, missed out on fully adopting the campaign techniques that helped Labour win the general election.
In London we have been too reliant on councillors to deliver party campaigning and now there are fewer of them.
The party should be supporting training, fundraising and development programmes for local parties and their volunteers to deliver Labour’s message all year round – not just at election time.
Funding for paid organisers to drive this with a clear run-up to future elections would be welcome too.
Room to adapt on the ground
Local parties need room to adapt. From one ward to the next in London, our main opponent could be one of four parties or a local independent, though the Conservatives are still Labour’s main opponent in a London-wide election.
The same message won’t work everywhere.
Elected representatives, local parties and party staff need to know which voters to reach, what matters to them, and have the support to campaign with them effectively.
Good results in London and elsewhere in May 2028 will help build the momentum for a general election in 2029. And that should then flow into winning back councils and councillors in 2030.
Our country needs a second Labour term. Better public services, less inequality, more homes and a fairer economy take time.
The Budget and the government’s devolution agenda will bring major benefits to London. International services at Stratford, the Bakerloo line extension and investment in Euston will create jobs, support economic growth and help deliver new homes.
But all that is put at risk if we take our eye off the ball and Labour does not win both the next Mayor of London election and the next general election.Andy Burnham has given Labour new hope, but we need to be doing more on the ground to turn that hope into reality and be winning London-wide elections comfortably again.
That means getting on with candidate selections, investing in organisers and giving local Labour parties the resources and support to campaign all year round.