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\t\tLabour’s 50-year hold on Haringey appears to be crumbling\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tThursday 23 April 2026 3:28 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tWednesday 22 April 2026 3:59 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tLabour’s 50-year hold on Haringey appears to be crumbling\t<\/p>\n
The home of Oxford Street and several wealthy residents, the Conservatives were proud of holding a council right in the centre of London until losing to Labour in 2022. Will uproar over Sir Sadiq Khan\u2019s mayoralty and concerns about local finances lead to a comeback?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Westminster turned red for the first time in its history in 2022. The Tories will be hoping that it can turn blue again come May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Buckingham Palace, Knightsbridge, Hyde Park, Oxford Street and Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s current home in Downing Street all fall within the wealthy borough where average house prices are nearly double that across London.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was therefore a landmark victory for Starmer\u2019s Labour over Boris Johnson\u2019s Tories at the height of the Partygate scandal. The council<\/a> defeat was a major setback for the Prime Minister at the time given he had served as London mayor, and it served as a political warning for lawmakers in SW1 on the drop of popularity for Johnson\u2019s premiership.\u00a0<\/p>\n Political ship-jumping has worsened the blow for the Westminster Tories. Laila Cunningham <\/a>defected to Reform UK and became one of its top figures as the campaigner-in-chief during local elections. Think tanker Alan Mendoza<\/a> also defected from the Tories and was named as one of Nigel Farage\u2019s foreign policy advisers.\u00a0<\/p>\n There was some reprieve for the Tories as Paul Fisher defected from Labour.\u00a0<\/p>\n The party will be hoping that residents in the area take their anger out at the government and the mayor of London, whose intervention on planning for Oxford Street has led to uproar.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oxford Street Nimbys?<\/p>\n When he defected, Fisher questioned whether Labour cared about Westminster and hit out at Sir Sadiq Khan over the pedestrianisation of the West End shopping street. The Tories claim that Oxford Street was also a \u201clocal high street\u201d and that pedestrianising it was \u201cunworkable\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tLondon local elections 2026: Who will win?<\/a><\/p>\n There has been more Nimby<\/a> (\u2018Not in my back yard\u2019) action being taken across the area. This includes initiatives driven by the council\u2019s Labour leaders. They called for a ban on \u2018For Sale\u2019 signs being put up on properties which are\u2026 for sale.<\/p>\n The council also put up a proposal to create a \u201cquiet\u201d, alcohol-free zone in central London. It has prompted a group of 150 businesses to hit out at residents in the area for blocking every Soho reform that they believe could make the area more attractive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Westminster silence zones<\/p>\n The Labour incumbents have meanwhile pledged to keep council taxes low despite it being allowed to increase rates by more than five per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents in the borough have enjoyed the second lowest tax rate in the country after Wandsworth but a funding cut by more than 10 per cent could make councillors rethink financial plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reform UK<\/a> will be closely monitoring results in Westminster. A substantial gain in the number of seats in Westminster would be a stamp of authority on the electoral map, reflecting a wider shift in political sentiment across the country right from the heart of the UK\u2019s establishment. It has a candidate standing in every ward.\u00a0<\/p>\n There may be a sense of despair for councillors running in Westminster. As Khan\u2019s intervention on Oxford Street has shown, political leaders are keen to interfere with business taking place in the council.\u00a0<\/p>\n Issues such as phone-snatching and affordable housing policies may not be completely up for councillors to control, but it\u2019s residents\u2019 frustration with those issues that may result in another historic result in Westminster.\u00a0\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