Labour and Greens both victorious in Haringey by-elections

However the result means that Haringey Greens remain short of a majority at Haringey Council, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Ajda Ovat (left, credit Haringey Labour) and Elara Shurety (right, credit Haringey Greens)

Haringey Greens will continue on as a minority administration after two key by-elections held yesterday (Thursday 25th) kept them just short of a majority at the council.

Voters went to the polls in both Woodside and Northumberland Park to elect one new councillor in each ward, following vacancies that arose after the local election on 7th May.

Before this week’s by-elections, the Greens held 27 seats on the local authority. The figure, two short of a majority, meant winning both by-elections would have given them overall control of the council.

Following a count held at Alexandra House, Green candidate Elara Shurety was elected to represent Woodside ward, while Labour’s Ajda Ovat was declared the winner in Northumberland Park, retaking her seat on the council after narrowly losing it in May.

In a peculiar twist of fate, both parties reversed their fortunes in each ward when compared with the results from May. The Northumberland Park seat, which was won by the Greens last month despite the party not campaigning, went to Labour. On the other hand, the Woodside ward vacancy went to the Greens, which Labour previously won by just three votes.

Cllr Ovat’s crucial victory denied the Green Party’s hopes of creating a majority administration.

The Labour candidate received 44.3% of the vote, outperforming her Green competitor, Rose Dakuo, who won 42.4%. Candidates from Reform UK, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats came third, fourth and fifth respectively.

In Woodside, the Greens won 43.3% of the vote, a 6.1 percentage-point increase from the previous poll. Labour came in second with 41% of votes. Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were outperformed by Reform UK candidate Ruth Price, who gained a 7.2% share.

The result leaves the Haringey Green group on 28 seats. The opposition is now made up of 21 Labour councillors and eight Liberal Democrats – a collective total of 29.

This could be a crucial figure. It means Haringey Labour and the Lib Dems now hold a majority of seats at the council.

As things stand – and if they work together – the two groups will have the power to deny or demand changes to key areas of policy, something they’ve shown signs they’re willing to do.

On 20th May, at the first full council meeting since the borough-wide local elections, the two groups surprised the Greens by working together to appoint Liberal Democrat councillor Dawn Barnes as mayor. Labour and Lib Dems councillors also successfully voted through an amendment that significantly increased their influence on the local authority’s committees.

The two opposition parties may be happier overall with yesterday’s results but it was by no means a disaster for the Greens, who managed to add one more councillor to their ranks following their historic victory at May’s elections.

Last month’s vote delivered a big defeat for Haringey Labour, ousting them from power in the borough for the first time in more than 50 years. The result also saw incumbent council leader Peray Ahmet lose her Noel Park ward seat to the Greens.

It meant the local authority became, for the first time in its history, run by a Green administration – albeit a minority one.

Former Labour member Mark Blake also became the first-ever Green leader of the council when he was elected on 20th May.

Earlier today (Friday 26th), Peray Ahmet took to social media site X to congratulate Cllr Ovat for her victory in Northumberland Park. She added: “First Labour gain from the Greens, which I’m sure won’t be the last in London.”

This morning Natalie Bennett, a House of Lords member and former leader of the national Green Party, also posted on X to congratulate Cllr Shurety for winning the Woodside by-election.

In the early hours of Friday morning, shortly after the Woodside result was declared, Haringey Greens posted a statement social media congratulating Cllr Shurety and thanking “everyone who supported our Green campaign for hope in Haringey!”

News of the need for the two council by-elections came in the weeks following 7th May. The Northumberland Park ward vote was confirmed when, just under a week after the polls closed, Haringey Greens announced that their successful candidate, Jayon Henriques, was ineligible to take his seat.

The group said they did not know Henriques would be disqualified until after the deadline for nominations closed in April and, subsequently, did not campaign in his ward.

A week later, Haringey Labour announced that Hasret Bozdogan, who was elected to represent Woodside ward, would not be taking on her role as councillor due to personal reasons “that transpired after 7th May”.

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