The 2022 Merton London Borough Council election is due to take place on 5 May 2022. All 57 members of Merton 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 Labour Party maintained its control of the council, winning 34 out of the 60 seats with the Conservative Party forming the principal opposition with seventeen the remaining 26 seats. The 2022 election will take place under new election boundaries, which will reduce the number of councillors to 57.
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, Merton has variously been under Labour control, Conservative control and no overall control. The council has had an overall Labour majority since the 2014 Merton London Borough Council election, when they won 36 seats with the Conservatives on 20, Merton Park Ward Independent Residents won three and the Liberal Democrats won one. In the most recent council election in 2018, Labour and the Conservatives lost seats to the Liberal Democrats. Labour won 34 seats with 46.9% of the vote across the borough, while the Conservatives won 17 seats with 31.5% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats rose to six seats with 14.6% of the vote and the Merton Park Ward Independent Residents continued to hold three seats with 3.3% of the vote across the borough.[2][3]
Council term[]
In May 2019, Mark Kenny, a Labour councillor for Cannon Hill, resigned citing health reasons.[4] A by-election to fill the seat was held in June 2019, which was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Jenifer Gould.[5] One of the Liberal Democrat councillors for West Barnes, Carl Quilliam, defected to the Labour Party in June 2020 citing the national leadership of Keir Starmer.[6] In March 2021, Kelly Braund, a Labour councillor for St Helier, resigned because she was moving to Scotland.[7] The seat was held for Labour by Helen Dollimore.[8]
The Labour councillor Mark Allison succeeded Stephen Alambritis as leader of the council in November 2020.[9]
Along with most other London boroughs, Merton was subject to a boundary review ahead of the 2022 election. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England concluded that the council should have 57 seats, falling from the previous 60 seats, and produced new election boundaries following a period of consultation.[10]
Electoral process[]
Merton, 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