The Conservatives have won back Westminster City Council from Labour, winning 32 of the 54 available seats.
The Conservatives have retaken control in a nine-seat swing, four years after Labour’s first win in the borough in the 2022 local elections.
Before 2022, the Conservatives had held Westminster City Council since its creation in 1965 but Labour have now been reduced to just 22 seats.
Two Reform UK councillors, Laila Cunningham and Alan Mendoza, lost their seats, while the Greens and Liberal Democrats failed to win any.
Hannah Galley, Conservative councillor for Abbey Road Ward, said via X: “I’m over the moon to be re-elected as a councillor for Abbey Road alongside my brilliant colleagues.
“It has been a fantastic night here for the Conservatives.
“Westminster City Council is blue once again!”
Philip Stephenson-Oliver, a new councillor in the Lancaster Gate Ward, made the first Conservative gain in the borough.
Westminster is home to some of London’s wealthiest people and some of its poorest.
The key issues for voters during the election campaign included affordability and the cost-of-living, crime, and plans for the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street.
YouGov’s MRP local election poll had predicted Labour to hold the council, though Conservative ministers including party leader Kemi Badenoch appeared confident in the face of the projections.
Speaking to The Standard, Badenoch claimed that boroughs including Westminster and Wandsworth that had been lost to Labour in 2022 had been negatively impacted by the switch.
She said: “I’m very optimistic, and we are working hard for every vote, we are not taking it for granted.”
Queen’s Park Community Council, London’s only parish council, also falls within Westminster City Council’s boundaries, though is yet to announce the results of their election.
While Westminster City councillors represent Queen’s Park Ward on issues including Council Tax collections and housing, the QPCC act as a voice for residents, raising issues to the councillors.
Labour has been preparing to for its stronghold in the capital to weaken, at risk of losing seats both to the Greens and to Reform.
On the national stage, both Labour and the Conservatives were expected to make losses, with Labour already having lost 249 seats, and the Conservatives 139.
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