Local elections 2026: who will win in Hammersmith and Fulham Council?
Labour won 40 of 50 seats in 2022 and remains favourite to hold Hammersmith and Fulham, but two councillor defections to the Greens signal growing pressure. Council tax has risen 4.99 per cent to £1,009 at Band D, the borough faces steep funding cuts by 2028/29, and Hammersmith Bridge remains closed to vehicles with a £250m repair bill unresolved.
Hammersmith and Fulham has long worn the badge of one of London’s safer-looking boroughs, but the 2026 local elections will still be closely watched as a test of how resilient the inner West London party remains.
Labour won 40 of the council’s 50 seats in the 2022 elections on a turnout of 33.3 per cent, with the Conservatives reduced to 10 seats after a 3.6 per cent swing to Labour.
Since then, however, the picture has become slightly more complicated: two Labour councillors have defected to the Greens and one former Labour councillor now sits as an independent.
That still leaves Labour in a commanding position, and election expert Tony Travers has suggested the party is likely to hold on. The party is set to find out whether they can hold onto the council at around 5.30am on Friday 8th May.
Hammersmith and Fulham was once seen as a classic Labour-Conservative marginal borough, but Labour has been in control since 2014 and has become more entrenched locally.
The key question in 2026 has turned whether its majority will be chipped away by the Conservatives, Greens or smaller parties.
Local issues seem to matter more here than Westminster drama, wherein council tax, transport, housing and street-level quality of life all divided residents and councillors alike.
The borough approved a 4.99 per cent council tax increase for 2026-27, taking its band D Hammersmith and Fulham charge to £1,009 before the Greater London Authority precept is added.
Even after that increase, Hammersmith and Fulham has one of the lowest borough-level council tax rates in the country.
Yet ministers have also given it special flexibility to go above normal limits in future years because of how the funding system is changing. It could leave councillors elected with an even more difficult in-tray as residents are likely to be asked to stump up more cash to plug gaps.
Hammersmith and Fulham has warned that the Fair Funding Review will cut its grants and retained business rates sharply. The Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis has singled it out as one of the councils facing one of the steepest real-terms falls in funding by 2028/29.
This gives Labour a ready-made argument that it is trying to protect services in tougher circumstances, while also giving opponents room to attack the administration over tax rises and fees.
But the thesis might not stick with residents given it’s a Labour government that has handed a Labour council the difficult set of circumstances.
Defining issues: Hammersmith Bridge, housing and traffic
Transport remains one of the borough’s most politically sensitive battlegrounds. Hammersmith Bridge has been closed to vehicles since 2019, and the cost of fully repairing and reopening it is now estimated at about £250m.
Residents have since been stuck in a long-running row involving the council, TfL and central government over who pays. Few local issues better capture voter frustration about drift, delay and buck-passing.
Elsewhere, the South Fulham traffic debate is still ongoing, and the council has had to rethink elements of its Wandsworth Bridge Road scheme after concerns like bus journey times, while campaigners against low-traffic measures have gathered thousands of signatures.
Meanwhile, the administration is trying to show delivery on housing, including recently unveiled 95 new social-rent homes in Fulham and a wider affordable homes pipeline.
The Hammersmith and Fulham council elections in May 2026 look likely to be fought on practical issues: council tax, Hammersmith Bridge, traffic schemes, affordable housing, crime and the cost of living.
The worrying daily news agenda coming from Westminster may also force residents to think twice about who they back.
Labour remains favourite to stay in control of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, but in a fragmenting London political map, even a borough that appears settled could still produce a noisier result than expected.
Morning Wire is previewing local election votes taking place in every London borough. Click here for a full overview of May 7.