Disappointment for All Parties in Ealing Borough Election

Labour increase majority but Conservatives worst fears not realised

Labour have increased their majority on Ealing Council after winning four more seats but none of the main parties appear to have much cause for celebration.

With the voting in all 23 wards now declared, Labour have 57 councillors, Conservatives 8 and the Liberal Democrats 4. Labour had been hoping for bigger gains but the result will be perhaps more disappointing for the Lib Dems who had expected to increase their representation in the borough particularly in Ealing Common but it was Labour who took one of the seats in this ward from the Conservatives. Joanna Dabrowska held on to make the ward a three way split with just 350 votes dividing nine candidates.

The two other gains were made by Labour in Northfield ward where only David Millican managed to hang on by less than 100 votes for the Conservatives.

Labour took the seat they didn't hold in Cleveland ward which was widely expected. They failed to pose much of a threat in Ealing Broadway ward which had been a target for them and the Tories held on comfortably in Hanger Hill.

The three sitting Councillors for Southfield ward which covers the part of Chiswick in Ealing Borough were re-elected.

Gary Busuttil, Andrew Steed and Gary Malcolm had been widely expected to retain their seats which they did so with an increased majority. Turnout for the ward was high with 46.6% of the electorate voting. The Conservatives were second even though they increased their number of votes compared to 2014.

Re-elected Councillor Andrew Steed said, “We are grateful to Southfield residents for re-electing us. We had one of the higher turnouts in Ealing, which was helped by the activity of our Conservative opponents-so fair game to Vanessa, Julian and Andrew.”

The result matched those across London in which Labour did increase their vote but not to the extent that enabled them to gain control of any more local authorities.

May 5, 2018