Onkar Sahota Holds Ealing and Hillingdon Seat for Labour
Conservatives describe it as 'missed open goal'
Candidates for the Ealing and Hillingdon seat. Onkar Sahota (centre). Clockwise from top left: Marijn Van De Geer, Anthony Goodwin, Gregory Stafford, Hussain Khan
Dr Onkar Sahota, Labour Assembly Member for Ealing & Hillingdon since 2012, has been re-elected.
His majority dropped by 2% but the Conservatives in the borough were disappointed by the outcome. One local party member said, “Given how much better than expected Shaun Bailey appears to have been doing and our strong performance in the by-elections as well as across the country we should have been making a bigger challenge in this seat. With no UKIP candidate standing our vote should have risen more so it now looks like a missed open goal.”
The incumbent has held the seat since 2012 when he defeated the Conservative Richard Barnes. In 2016 he increased his majority to nearly 16.000 votes.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Onkar Sahota | 85,216 | 40.8 | -2.0 |
| Conservative | Gregory Stafford | 76,974 | 36.9 | +2.0 |
| Green | Marijn Van De Geer | 22,620 | 10.8 | +3.0 |
| Liberal Democrats | Hussain Khan | 16,435 | 7.9 | +1.3 |
| Reform UK | Anthony Goodwin | 7,415 | 3.6 | N/A |
| Majority | 8,242 | 3.9 | -4.0 | |
| Turnout | 208,660 | 45.8 | -0.2 | |
| Labour hold | Swing | -2.0 | ||
The borough of Ealing also has three new councillors after the results were declared for by-elections in local wards.
Julian Gallant held Ealing Broadway ward for the Conservatives with a slight increase in the number of votes from the last election. Labour candidate Claire Tighe also increased her party’s vote at the expense of the Liberal Democrats.
The pattern was different in Hanger Hill ward where Fabio Conti was elected with a reduced share of the vote. Labour, represented by Grace Quansah saw its support remain steady and it was Athena Zissimos for the Liberal Democrats who was the big gainer.
In Hobbayne ward on the other hand, where Louisa Brett was elected for Labour, the Conservatives did make some in roads into her majority.
Elsewhere in the London Assembly vote the result of the South West constituency has yet to be declared but the Conservative Party has held the seat of West Central, as the other early election results roll in.
The constituency, which includes the whole of the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, had been earmarked as a potential swing seat for Labour, but Conservative Tony Devenish narrowly defeated Labour’s Rita Begum to retain the seat he won in 2016.
But the Conservative Party’s majority has fallen dramatically, from 14,564 in 2016 to just 2,225 in this year’s election.
Elsewhere, the Conservatives comfortably retained the constituency seat of Bexley and Bromley, with Peter Fortune to take over the seat vacated by MP Gareth Bacon, beating Labour candidate Stefano Borella with 97,966 votes to 47,389.
Labour, meanwhile, have retained their seats in Lambeth and Southwark as well as Brent and Harrow.
Marina Ahmad will take over the seat held by MP Florence Eshalomi, while Krupesh Hirani will take over Brent and Harrow from former Assembly chair Navin Shah.
In Lambeth and Southwark, Green Party candidate Claire Sheppard beat the Conservative candidate Hannah Ginnett to second place, securing 36,933 votes, which is an increase of 11,140 votes since 2016.
Turnout in this year’s election had been expected to be low, but figures from the constituencies that have so far declared results show only a slight drop from 2016 figures.
In Bexley & Bromley, voter turnout fell from 47 per cent in 2016 to 44 per cent this year, while Lambeth & Southwark saw turnout fall from 44 per cent to 41 per cent.
In the final results of Friday night, Labour retained the North East constituency, with Sem Moema taking the seat that had been held by Jennette Arnold for 17 years before she retired, while Keith Prince of the Conservative Party held his seat of Havering & Redbridge.
Havering & Redbridge had been identified as a potential swing seat, but Mr Prince eventually beat his Labour rival Judith Garfield by 15,327 votes, increasing his party’s majority from 1,438 in the previous election.
Results for the remaining seven constituencies as well as the London-wide seats will be announced this Saturday (8 May ), with the London Mayoral election results to be announced either Saturday night or Sunday (9 May) morning.
Labour currently holds 12 of the 25 seats in the Assembly and has hopes of achieving a majority in Thursday’s vote.
London Assembly members are elected using the Additional Member system. You vote once for your constituency member and once for a London-wide representative. Votes give to the London-wide representative from voters in the local constituency will help determine the make up of the Assembly.
There are 14 constituency members and 11 London-wide members.
| Political party | Assembly members | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | |
| Labour | 9 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 12 |
| Conservative | 9 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
| Green | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| UKIP | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Liberal Democrat | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| British National Party | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
For the Mayoral election there are 20 candidates standing hoping to unseat the incumbent Sadiq Khan.
The Mayor of London is elected using the Supplementary Vote system. You make a first and second choice when you vote.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the first choice votes, all except the top 2 candidates are eliminated. If your first choice candidate is eliminated, and your second choice is for one of the top 2, your second choice is counted.
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May 8, 2021