London local elections 2026: Who will win in Southwark?
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A divided borough may end up under no overall control, with Lib Dems faring well in the prosperous north, while social housing heartlands stick with Labour, which has struggled with local infighting and defections to the Greens.
From the vantage point of the Shard, at the tip of Southwark, the borough changes dramatically as it stretches away from the Thames.
The northernmost part of the borough, just across the river from the Square Mile, is densely populated and highly developed. Here, the Liberal Democrats have made gains in recent years, winning 11 seats to push back a dominant Labour. Southwark’s yellow wards include Borough, North Bermondsey and Surrey Docks.
But the rest of the borough – from dense social housing in eastern Rotherhithe and the suburbs of Camberwell and Dulwich village – is strongly Labour. How council seats are divvied up will likely be revealed at around 6pm on Friday 8th May.
Labour to face tough pressure from Lib Dems
Keir Starmer’s party took 52 seats here in 2022, improving its presence by three despite seeing its vote share drop slightly to 53 per cent.
But, like any Labour stronghold in the capital, Southwark will face fierce pressure, largely from the left, in May. Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats visited earlier this month and said he expects his party to do well in the borough.
The Lib Dems ran Southwark council in the early 2000s, and Davey says it is this governing experience that makes his party the serious challenger to Labour, rather than the insurgent Greens.
Davey told the BBC: “We’re already relevant because we’re running councils – Reform and the Greens aren’t.”
The Lib Dems, here as in other target boroughs like Brent, Lambeth and Ealing, are targeting community issues like potholes and bin collection.
But the Greens are hoping to make gains in Southwark too, and pundits say Zack Polanski’s party has the best chances in the borough’s southern areas, including Peckham and Dulwich.
Southwark may emerge with no leader
There is a possibility that Southwark could fall into no overall control. It spent eight years with no ruling party before 2010.
The chaotic events on the council since the last local election suggest this divided borough could be hard for any one party to win. Six Labour councillors either quit or were suspended in the months around Christmas.
A number of these councillors either quit in protest or were ousted for dissent regarding the election of Cllr Sarah King as Labour leader in Southwark.
Three of these former Labour councillors formed the borough’s first Green presence on the council, while another three now sit as independents.
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