Election live: ‘Ecstatic’ Greens secure majority control, with 31 seats to Labour’s 15

The Greens have won the 31 seats needed for a majority as Labour trail behind on 15, with Tories picking up four seats and reaching 14 councillors

The election count has been completed and the Green Party has soared to win control of the council, winning a total of 31 seats to Labour’s 15. The Conservatives held off the threat from Reform and won 14 seats, improving their pre-election tally of ten.

6pm – Final result called with Tories snatching one seat from Labour in Valley ward

BREAKING: GREENS WIN MAJORITY CONTROL

The Greens have won 31 seats, picking up a further two seats in Higham Hill, with Labour retaining one.

5.30pm – Greens win three more councillors in Chapel End, putting them two shy of majority control

5.15pm – Greens win in St James

5.10pm- Reform lose out in Hatch Lane & Highams Park North, Tories snatch back three seats

5.10pm – Greens win Grove Green ward, and reach 23 councillors

5pm – Greens win Cann Hall ward – and reach 20 councillors

4.45pm – Labour’s Clyde Loakes holds Leytonstone, Greens snatch two seats

4.40pm – Council leader Grace Williams and cabinet member Kizzy Gardiner hold seats for Labour in William Morris, Greens snatch one seat

4.25pm – Greens win further full slate – picking up Leyton from Labour

The Greens now have 14 councillors. Full results below.

4.15pm – Tories hold Chingford Green, Reform trail behind

4.10pm – Labour hold Upper Walthamstow

Yusuf Patel and Caramel Quin retain Upper Walthamstow for Labour with 1,162 and 1,290 votes respectively. The Greens came behind with its candidates Lyssa Barber and Rbeeza Mobeen getting 828 and 749 votes.

4pm – Greens secure three councillors in Forest ward

They now have eleven councillors.

3.50pm – Labour hold three councillors in Hoe Street

3.40pm – Greens win three councillors in High Street (Walthamstow)

3.20pm – Greens win full slate of three councillors, trouncing Labour in Lea Bridge

Three Green Party candidates won in Lea Bridge – trouncing Labour. Liz Biggs, Solene Fabios and Rosie Rowlands won with 2,433, 2,236, and 2,304 votes respectively.

The full results are below.

3.15pm – Greens and Labour split win in Markhouse ward

The Green Party has won its second councillor so far, with Chanté Syreena Johnson winning 1,170 votes in Markhouse. Incumbent Labour candidate Johar Khan won the most votes overall with 1,368.

Former Mayor of Waltham Forest Sharon Waldron lost her seat, coming third with 1,159 votes.

The full results are below with winners in bold.

3.05pm – Labour hold Hale End and Highams Park South

Labour’s Tony Bell and Rosalind Anne Doré held their seats in Hale End and Highams Park South with 1,384 votes and 1,365 votes respectively.

3pm – Labour hold Wood Street

The Labour Party has held Wood Street, with candidates Stephanie Lynne Talbut winning 1,270 votes and Richard Charles Sweden getting 1,284 votes. Green Party candidate Charlie Loveday came a very close third with 1,248 votes.

Full results below – in alphabetical order.

2.30pm – Tories hold onto Endlebury ward

The Conservatives have held onto Endlebury ward in the north of Chingford, with Roy Berg (Conservatives) gaining 1,709 votes and leader Emma Best getting 1,695 votes.

The full results are below.

2pm

1.20pm – ‘Ecstatic’ Greens win first councillor in Cathall, Labour cabinet member loses seat

Labour’s candidate Aisha Abubakar held a seat for Labour in Cathall ward, with the Green Party unseating Labour cabinet member Naheed Asghar and claiming their first ever council seat in Waltham Forest.

Rachel Susan Barrat for the Greens won the most votes, with 872 on a turnout of 31.63% – one of the lower turnouts in the borough reported so far.

Aisha Abubakar won 832 votes, and Naheed Asghar came third with 785 votes. Green Party candidate Thomas-Hugh Macinnes came a close fourth with 728, thus also missing out on a seat in the two member ward.

Liz Biggs, Green Party candidate for Lea Bridge told the Echo she was “ecstatic” with the result, adding: “Rachel is going to be an incredible councillor for us.”

The full results for Cathall ward are as follows (winners in bold):

12.50pm – Surprise at high turnout of 42%

The turnout for this local election is 42.08%, Waltham Forest Council has confirmed. The borough wards with exceptionally high voter turnout are Chingford Green with 51.4% and Hale End & Highams Park South with 47.7%.

Other wards with above average turnout include Wood Street with 46%, St James with 45.8%, and Endlebury with 46.5%.

Waltham Forest Council CEO Linzi Roberts-Egan previously apologised for stating incorrect turnout figures for Hoe Street and William Morris wards because postal votes were not included.

The correct figures are 41.4% (Hoe Street) and 44.7% (William Morris) and not 35.5% and 39% as previously stated.

12.30pm – Source: Greens doing ‘extremely well’ in Walthamstow

A source with access to the counting floor has told the Echo that several Walthamstow wards appear to be seeing a “flood” of Green votes, with Labour apparently falling behind.

While it is too early to confidently speak with any certainty, the source stated Lea Bridge, High Street, Hoe Street, Wood Street, Upper Walthamstow, and St James wards were all looking very positive for the Green Party.

12pm – Conservatives ‘confident’ they will maintain their seats in Chingford

As the counting continues inside Walthamstow Assembly Hall, Waltham Forest Tory leader Emma Best told the Echo she was “certain” she would be keeping her Endlebury seat in North Chingford, where turnout was a strong 46.5%.

The Conservatives are seeking to hold their ten seats and remain as the main opposition.

She said: “We had a really strong campaign, and we can see that from the amount of voters that we’ve turned out.

“We’re really happy with the way things have gone in Endlebury, and I’m very confident at this point that I’ll be returning to the town hall. I’m very confident that we’ll be returning with a strong opposition to hold the council to account, whether that’s a Labour minority or a Green minority council or a Green majority. We know that we will still be the sensible voice for Waltham Forest as an opposition to this council.”

Asked about how Reform were faring in the borough, she said: “They will certainly take some votes, but they’re taking votes from both Labour and the Conservatives in a protest; that’s something that’s come across on the doors.”

Would the Tories work with Reform in opposition though? “We’ll work with anyone that delivers for our residents. And so I think when it comes to local council delivery, a lot of these issues are not ideological. When you look at things like delivering big black bins for people or returning free parking to a high street, these are not ideological issues. We’ll work for anyone that delivers those to our residents.”

This page will be updated throughout the day with live results, interviews and reaction so please keep refreshing the page.

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