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Local elections 2022 preview: Hackney

Hackney council local elections 2022 will take place this year on Thursday 5 May, where voters will be asked to vote for a mayor and two to three councillors for their ward. 

There are 57 councillors across 21 wards which each have two to three seats, and currently, 52 councillors represent Labour and five represent the Conservative party

You can find a list of candidates running here.

Mayor election

There are five candidates for the mayor – Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Conservative and Unionist Party, People Before Profit and the Labour and Co-operative Party with the current mayor, Philip Glanville having a strong majority of 65.9% of the votes with a 36.9% voting turnout in the last mayoral election in 2018. 

You can find a list of mayoral candidates here.

Election issues

Local issues are housing, low traffic neighbourhoods and road closures which have proved controversial for some residents who have complained about traffic being diverted to poorer demographic neighbourhoods.

Other issues include recovery from the pandemic, concerns over-policing especially with the infamous adultification of Child Q, the cost of living crisis, as well as the cyber attack on the council and its impact on residents.

The elections will take place along other local elections in boroughs across England.

Hackney was formed as a London borough in 1965 bringing together Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington. 

Following a successful referendum to have a mayor run the council, Hackney had its first one in 2002 with Jules Piper (Labour) sitting for three and a half terms followed by Philip Glanville who has been mayor since 2016. 

Hackney has had a Labour majority since its inception apart from 1968 to 1972 when the Conservatives took control of the council.

There are two parliamentary constituencies in Hackney: Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and Hackney South and Shoreditch each represented by one Member of Parliament.

Hackney’s Labour majority MPs Meg Hillier (Hackney South) and Dianne Abbott (Hackney North) are safe until at least May 2024 when there will be a general election. 

In the 2018 local elections, Hackney had its lowest voting turnout of 28.9% in Hoxton East and Shoreditch Ward and its highest in Stamford Hill West Ward which had a 49.5% turnout. 

Polling stations can be found here and all will be open from 7am to 10pm.

If you are registered to vote, you don’t need your voting card or any other form of identification.

Featured image: Redlentil (Public Domain)

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