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\t\tIslington council could look very different after May’s local elections\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tThursday 23 April 2026 2:33 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tWednesday 22 April 2026 8:45 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tIslington council could look very different after May’s local elections\t<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s dominance makes it almost a one-party authority here. But the Greens are on the march backing rent control after big-name infighting between the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer means no shortage of political drama.<\/p>\n
At first glance, Islington Council\u2019s composition is like North Korea\u2019s. It is all-but a one-party authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the 2022 local elections, the borough voted in 47 Labour councillors, who together occupy more than 92 per cent of the total seats.<\/p>\n
But Labour\u2019s near-unanimity in the council chamber belies deep political divisions in this trendy corner of north London.<\/p>\n
The defenestration of Jeremy Corbyn from the party proved a divisive issue on the left. The neighbourhood\u2019s decades-long representative in the Commons was ousted from the parliamentary Labour party despite having served as its leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the 2024 general election, Keir Starmer put up a new Labour candidate to contest Islington North, Corbyn\u2019s constituency \u2013 but Corbyn vowed to fight on and assembled his own team of campaigners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the end, Corbyn\u2019s victory over Labour candidate Praful Nargund \u2013 who remains a Labour councillor in Islington \u2013 proved decisive<\/a>. Corbyn\u2019s 49 per cent share of the vote was comfortably above Nargund\u2019s 34 per cent.<\/p>\n Now, Labour Islington\u2019s Labour councillors fear a similar defeat could loom in May\u2019s local elections.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tLondon local elections 2026: Who will win in Waltham Forest?<\/a><\/p>\n But rather than Corbyn\u2019s cantankerous Your Party, it is the insurgent Greens who are most likely to exploit Labour\u2019s rapid slide in popularity.<\/p>\n Greens keen for gains in Islington local election<\/p>\n The Greens are already polling above Labour at around 18 per cent nationally. In suburban areas they are doing even better, as their recent byelection win in Manchester\u2019s Gorton and Denton proved.<\/p>\n The party, represented by its charismatic new leader Zack Polanksi, scooped up 22.4 per cent of the vote in Islington in 2022, a swing of 6 per cent on the previous election, though that only netted them three council seats. This time around, even a similar-sized swing across a handful of wards could trigger a major shake-up of the composition of the council.<\/p>\n The Green\u2019s prospective path to power is supported by two key demographics.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first is that the average age of an Islingtonian is way younger than the national average and the Greens are most popular among young people. The most populous age group in Islington are the 25-35s.<\/p>\n The second is that Islington has the highest population density of any local authority in England and Wales \u2013 as well as very high rents. For young people living in cramped conditions at sky-high prices, Polanski\u2019s promise of rent controls has clear appeal.<\/p>\n The Labour government is often lampooned as a government of the north London elite, because such a large number of cabinet members hail from in and around Islington. But will this familiarity with the area by the party\u2019s most senior members be enough to save it from defeat?<\/p>\n City AM is previewing local election votes taking place in every London borough. Click here<\/a> for a full overview of May 7.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n