2022 Kingston upon Thames London Borough Council election
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2022 local election in Kingston upon Thames
2022 Kingston upon Thames Council election
← 2018
5 May 2022
2026 →
All 48 council seats
Leader
Andreas Kirsch
Kevin Davis
Party
Liberal Democrats
Conservative
Last election
39 seats, 51.7%
9 seats, 30.6%
Incumbent council control
Liberal Democrats
The 2022 Kingston upon Thames London Borough Council election is due to take place on 5 May 2022. All 48 members of Kingston upon Thames London Borough Council will be elected. The elections will take place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.
In the previous election in 2018, the Liberal Democrats regained control of the council, winning 39 out of the 48 seats with the defeated Conservative Party forming the council opposition with the remaining nine seats. The 2022 election will take place under new election boundaries, with the number of councillors remaining the same.
The thirty-two London boroughs were established in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. They are the principal authorities in Greater London and have responsibiilites including education, housing, planning, highways, social services, libraries, recreation, waste, environmental health and revenue collection. Some of the powers are shared with the Greater London Authority, which also manages passenger transport, police and fire.[1]
Since its formation, Kingston upon Thames has been under Liberal Democrat control, Conservative control and no overall control. The Liberal Democrats have controlled the council since 2002, apart from the period between 2014 and 2018 when the Conservatives had an overall majority. The Liberal Democrats regained control in the most recent election in 2018, where they won 39 seats with 51.7% of the vote and the Conservatives won the remaining nine seats with 30.6% of the vote. The Labour Party lost both seats they were defending and received 11.9% of the vote across the borough.[2]
Council term[]
A Liberal Democrat councillor, Sharon Falchikov-Sumner, left her party in 2018 after the council voted to close their last residential care home. She joined the Green Party in February 2019.[3] In March 2020, the council leader Liz Green was successfully challenged by Caroline Kerr, a Liberal Democrat councillor who was first elected in 2018.[4] A Liberal Democrat councillor for Chessington South, Tricia Bamford, resigned in December 2020 due to a change in her family circumstances.[5] A by-election to replace her was not held until 6 May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The by-election, which was contested by thirteen Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidates, was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Andrew MacKinlay.[6] Mackinlay had previously served as the Labour MP for Thurrock.[7] In September 2021, the Liberal Democrat councillor Jon Tolley left his party due to policy disagreements with the council executive.[8] Kerr announced her resignation as council leader in October 2021.[9]
As with most London boroughs, Kingston upon Thames will be electing its councillors under new boundaries decided by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, which it produced after a period of consulation. The number of councillors will remain at 48, but the commission produced new boundaries following a period of consulation, with ten three-member wards and nine two-member wards.[10]
Electoral process[]
Kingston upon Thames, like other London borough councils, elects all of its councillors at once every four years. The previous election took place in 2018. The election will take place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by two or three councillors. Electors will have as many votes as there are councillors to be elected in their ward, with the top two or three being elected.
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) living in London aged 18 or over will be entitled to vote in the election. People who live at two addresses in different councils, such as university students with different term-time and holiday addresses, are entitled to be registered for and vote in elections in both local authorities.[11] Voting in-person at polling stations will take place from 7:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters will be able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.[11]
Council composition after the 2018 election
Council composition ahead of the 2022 election
