The 2018 Barnet Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2018 to elect members of Barnet Borough Council in London, England. It took place on the same day as other local elections in 2018. In the last election, the Conservatives won control of the council with 32 seats, compared to 30 for Labour and 1 for the Liberal Democrats. On 15 March 2018, following the resignation of a Conservative councillor, the council was in a state of no overall control. The election on 3 May 2018 saw the Conservatives take back overall control with a majority of 13.
On 20 September 2019 Gabriel Rozenberg (elected Conservative) joined the Liberal Democrats, citing his opposition to Brexit.[1] On 2 October, he was then followed by Jess Brayne (elected Labour) who also defected to the Liberal Democrats.[2]
Background
At the last election in 2014, the Conservatives were re-elected with a reduced majority. Labour gained 9 seats from the Conservatives, but the Conservatives remained in office as a result of winning 2 seats from the Liberal Democrats in Childs Hill ward.
The Conservatives remained in control of the council with 32 seats until March 2018, when councillor Sury Khatri resigned his membership and role as party whip after being deselected as a Conservative candidate.[3] As a result, the Conservatives lost their majority on the council, leaving them as a minority administration.
Election results
Incumbent councillors are marked with an asterisk *.
On September 20, 2019, Cllr Gabriel Rozenberg left the Conservatives to join the Liberal Democrats due to their stance on Brexit and the election of Boris Johnson as party leader.[6]
On February 25, 2019, Cllr Jessica Brayne left the Labour Party over their failure to tackle anti-Semitism and their stance on Brexit. She then joined the Liberal Democrats in September 2019.[7]