Labour retained overall control in Barking and Dagenham with a reduced majority as Reform and the Greens made notable gains.
Labour secured 38 seats out of 51 in the east London borough – a net loss of 13 compared to their pre-election dominance but a relief given pre-election projections that the borough was a three-way battleground.
Reform picked up nine seats from zero, falling short of expectations after being projected to lead in a recent YouGov poll, while the Green Party gained just four.
Labour Council Leader Dominic Twomey retained his Eastbury ward seat and stated his defiance “in the face of populist politics”, while criticising the rise of Reform in the borough and across the country.
Twomey said: “This is the way forward. We will tackle Reform here.
“We will support residents wherever the shortcomings of the Reform councillors rear its ugly heads, so I do hope that we will drive them out of this borough because, in my opinion, they do not do anything to integrate people.
“They just create division and promise many, many things that they can’t deliver.”
In 2022, Labour won all 51 seats with nearly 80% of the vote in a clean sweep, and prior to this year’s election, the party held 47 seats following defections — three councillors to the Greens and one to the Conservatives in 2025.
The falling support for Labour in the borough reflects broader national trends of voter dissatisfaction with the party amid cost-of-living pressures, housing challenges, and immigration concerns in the area.
Voter turnout rose sharply to around 34%, up from a record low of 24.5% in 2022, indicating higher voter engagement amid national discontent with the governing party.
Caleb Van Ryneveld, one of the newly elected Reform councillors for the Goresbrook ward, expressed delight despite failing to challenge for the council majority.
Ryneveld said: “Yes, there will be a lot of red wards, but that’s not because the Reform voters aren’t out there – it’s because they’re not turning up.
“We are the silent majority, and if we get out of our house, if we go to the polling station and we express our democratic right, we can and we will win.
“We have a foot in the door to this Labour council, and we’re going to throw it open.”
No seats were won by the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats in this local election.
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