![\"Voters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/london-voting-3.jpg\")
\t\tCamden elections could pose a problem for Sir Keir Starmer.\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tThursday 23 April 2026 3:00 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tWednesday 22 April 2026 3:42 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tCamden elections could pose a problem for Sir Keir Starmer.\t<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer will be looking closely at how results pan out in his own backyard given his constituency in Holborn and St Pancras. Could the Greens or Lib Dems put Labour\u2019s control under threat given the prominence of issues such as Gaza, planning and homelessness?<\/p>\n
Camden Council is Labour through and through \u2013 or is it? Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s backyard is the top local authority that journalists will be looking at in search of an angle on the Prime Minister\u2019s political plight on May 7.<\/p>\n
Labour has 47 out of 54 seats available for the council. The authority spans from Covent Garden to Kentish Town, and is home to important institutions such as the British Museum, the British Library and London Zoo. London Euston, dogged by scuppered redevelopment plans as HS2<\/a> still has not been completed, also falls within the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n The election battle is on a knife-edge as one party believes they can rack up lots more seats: the Greens.\u00a0<\/p>\n The party\u2019s lone warrior in the council, Lorna Jane Russell, has been quoted in newspapers focusing the campaign on a protest against the prime minister, who is one of the most unpopular politicians in polling by City AM\/Freshwater Strategy.<\/p>\n Gains from the Green<\/a>s\u2019 current single seat are almost certain. Anything around 20 seats will reveal a real challenge for Labour.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the Greens have faced controversy of their own. One of the party\u2019s local candidates, Aziz Rahman Hakimi, reposted statements that \u201cZionists\u201d were behind 9\/11 and said an attack on Jewish charity-owned ambulances were a \u201cfalse flag\u201d operation.<\/p>\n Candidates from centre-ground parties such as the Lib Dems, which narrowly beat the Tories last time around to be the main opposition, are attempting to focus on the local issues rather than the national debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tLondon Local Elections 2026: Who will win in Hackney?<\/a><\/p>\n Labour will hope it can avoid embarrassment. In its manifesto, the party has promised to inject cash into house repairs, build affordable homes and create a cost of living fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s just as well that the party drafted a manifesto as it ploughs resources into the boroughs it wants to keep.\u00a0<\/p>\n Camden\u2019s celebrity row<\/p>\n Repeated stories of faulty buildings, bad repairs and a rise in rough sleeping have dogged the fashionable London borough for several years.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a fair share of Nimby politics, with \u2018Not in my back yard\u2019 residents delaying planned redevelopments. Ed Miliband\u2019s wife Dame Justine Thornton last year opposed a block of flats because they were \u201ctoo tall\u201d and \u201ctoo bulky\u201d. Oscar-winning actor Benedict Cumberbatch also starred on the list of opponents against the Dartmouth Park development.\u00a0<\/p>\n One councillor who spoke to City AM laid the blame on construction companies failing to deliver projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n Camden has also had its own fair share of retail-level political drama after a local Tory councillor, Shiva Tiwari, who defected from Labour, resigned after threatening to \u201cclose\u201d a branch of Costcutter.<\/p>\n This upcoming local election<\/a> will inevitably be a referendum on Starmer. A loss \u2013 particularly in wards such as Holborn and Covent Garden, and St Pancras and Somers Town \u2013 would deal a heavy blow to the Prime Minister.\u00a0<\/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