Four years ago, the unthinkable, for many Westminster residents, happened. Control of the council was won for the first time ever, and convincingly, by Labour. As a Westminster voter for more than 20 years, I had expected that the council would in time flip to Labour; the leftward trend was clear – but not so soon, more likely at the next elections in 2026. In the event, Westminster was caught up in the great shift that swept Labour to power in its general election landslide in 2024. Helped along by some boundary changes, the result was a council made up of 31 Labour to 23 Conservatives.

Westminster used to be a byword for clean streets. That it no longer is may be down as much to a decline in public behaviour as council failure

Westminster used to be a byword for clean streets. That it no longer is may be down as much to a decline in public behaviour as council failure

Four years on, the Conservatives – many of whom had been shaken by the scale of their 2022 loss – could be on the verge of a sweet revenge, as they seek to reclaim the low-tax, high-performance council many see as their crown jewels. A week before this year’s elections, the polls offer a mirror image of the previous result, with 31 seats for the Conservatives, to Labour’s 16; seven for the Greens, and one Lib Dem.

There are many reasons why this turnaround may be happening. One is that, while the Labour council has focused on the priorities it set – chief among them improving the housing stock, and prioritising housing and other social services – changes here have been visible largely to those in the social housing sector, who were already Labour voters. To anyone else, myself included, the deterioration in what might be called the public realm has been marked.

Westminster used to be a byword for clean streets. That it no longer is may be down as much to a decline in........

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