Wandsworth was a major council loss for the Tories in 2022. After suffering accusations of lying about council tax freezes and recent stories about crime in the area, can Labour maintain support here? Wandsworth was a Tory stronghold in London for decades – until it lost to Labour in 2022.
Mauricio Alencar
Thursday 23 April 2026 3:12 am | Updated: Wednesday 22 April 2026 3:33 pm
Wandsworth was a major council loss for the Tories in 2022. After suffering accusations of lying about council tax freezes and recent stories about crime in the area, can Labour maintain support here?
Wandsworth was a Tory stronghold in London for decades – until it lost to Labour in 2022.
Four years later, the battle to regain the council could give party leaders some much-needed hope that it can still persuade voters to back them.
The loss of the council in 2022 was a heavy blow as it offered the council a chance to keep a large London local authority and boast about its record on taxes.
The council maintains the cheapest council tax in the UK. It sets a band D bill of £990 .
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Labour have attempted to jump on the record since it won eight councillor seats in 2022 to gain control of the authority. Its leader, Simon Hogg, boasted about “freezing” the tax for the fourth consecutive year.
But UK Statistics Authority chair Penny Young wrote to Hogg late last month to warn that residents would misread the advertisement. Young warned that locals would still see their tax bills rise “by a significant amount” due to a levy that funds social care rising over the year.
The Greater London Authority also increased the tax take for the borough.
Tory opposition leader Aled Richards-Jones appeared to accuse leading members of lying over the announcement that council taxes would be frozen.
Read more Local elections 2026: who will win in Hammersmith and Fulham Council?
The council could also now be squeezed by more intense financial pressures after the government’s fair funding review projected sweeping cuts worth tens of millions of pounds to its budget over the coming years.
It could lead to up to 40 per cent of the council’s budget being slashed, per Tory estimates.
The deal would therefore likely result in taxes rising for residents. Wandsworth was one of few councils to be given the power to raise taxes by unlimited amounts. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that council tax bills could jump by as much as 75 per cent.
The decision for voters may therefore come to whether residents feel the Tories or Labour, or another party, could be more responsible with public finances and ensure tax rises are kept at bay.
But Wandsworth Nimby (‘Not in my back yard’) warriors are battling against the development of a Battersea tower scheme with the help of Mick Jagger across the river in Chelsea. Meanwhile, furious pedestrians have demanded that rogue cyclists flying past red lights and leaving Lime bikes scattered on pavements are dealt with by the council.
You can’t always get what you want
Councillors are also pushing for improvements to be made to London’s busiest train station, Clapham Junction. But it has been years since talk of an extension of the Northern Line to the station was reportedly considered.
Recent shoplifting incidents nearby could also sway voters in the borough. Both Labour and the Tories have sparred on the council’s approach to introducing safety officers to crack down on anti-social behaviour.
The vote in May could be an indicator of whether the Tories have any chance of mounting a serious comeback in key London areas and subsequently build momentum ahead of wider national elections. On the flip side, a win for Labour would suggest that the party’s win over the Tories in 2022 was not a mere protest vote and showed that, with a fiscally prudent agenda, the party can secure the long-term backing of people who are not naturally attracted to it.
City AM is previewing local election votes taking place in every London borough. Click here for a full overview of May 7.
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