2026 Harrow London Borough Council election

London borough councils are the principal authorities in Greater London and have responsibilities including education, highways, social services, libraries, recreation, waste, environmental health, housing development and revenue collection. Some of the powers are shared with the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London, which also manage passenger transport, police and fire. Harrow voted in a Conservative council in its first election in 1964, and (excluding a brief three-year period of no overall control) Harrow remained Conservative-controlled till 1994. In that year, the Liberal Democrats became the biggest party on the council, although the council had no overall control. In 1998, Labour won a majority on Harrow Council for the first time. Labour lost their majority in 2002 and the Tories retook the council in 2006, only to lose it to Labour again in 2010. Although there was a brief period of no overall control, Labour won majorities in 2014 and 2018. In 2022, the Conservatives won a majority on Harrow Council, with 31 seats, while Labour were reduced to 24, defeating the incumbent Labour administration of twelve years, which had held a majority for eight of those years. Both the Tories and Labour stood 55 candidates each in 2022, while the Liberal Democrats stood 28 candidates, Greens stood 14 candidates, and Reform stood 3 candidates. 9 candidates stood as independents. In June 2023, Labour suspended a councillor, Phillip O'Dell, who became an independent. That same year, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, expanded the Ultra-Low Emission Zone to outer London (ULEZ). This was challenged in court by Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon councils, although the court challenge was defeated. On 4 July 2024, the 2024 United Kingdom general election saw a Labour Party victory, with a total 411 seats. The Conservative Party saw a reduction in their total seats to 121, the lowest in their history, resulting in Keir Starmer becoming Prime Minister. However, Labour had won this landslide on less than 35 percent of the vote, and a rapid collapse in Labour (and also Conservative) polling combined with the surge of Reform UK, has led to some political commentators suggesting that the two-party system has ended or has come close to ending. A new party, Arise, was formed in August 2025 with the backing of Jeremy Corbyn. This party is led by Pamela Fitzpatrick, a Labour councillor between 2014 and 2021, then an independent councillor until 2022, and an independent candidate for Harrow West in the 2024 general election. They have announced that they intend to target Marlborough ward. == Council administration ==

In 2025, Harrow Times reported that the Conservative council invested £3 million into renovating council housing. In 2026, the Conservatives increased Harrow council tax by 4.99%. Labour leader David Perry called the budget a "disaster for this Conservative administration," and claimed the Tories "voted to break their own election promises by raising council tax by the maximum 5 per cent for a fourth consecutive year." Harrow also has the third-highest council tax in London, having dropped down from the second-highest rate under the previous Labour administration at the 2022 election, which was run by Roxbourne councillor Graham Henson. The two councils that pay more council tax than Harrow are Lib Dem-run Kingston-upon-Thames and Conservative-run Croydon. == Electoral system ==

London borough councils elect all of their councillors at once every four years. The previous election took place in 2022. The election will take place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with each ward being represented by two or three councillors. Electors will have as many votes as there are councillors to be elected in their ward, with the top two or three being elected, depending on the ward. 28 seats are needed for a majority on Harrow Council. The Conservatives currently enjoy a majority. Labour need an increase of 4 seats from their previous result to gain a majority. The narrowest Labour defeats in 2022 were North Harrow, by 5 votes, Rayners Lane, by 15 votes, North Harrow, by 39 votes, and Edgware, by 49 votes. (North Harrow and Rayners Lane each have two councillors and Edgware has three.) The only two parties to stand in all wards in 2022 were Labour and the Conservatives. == Policies ==

The Harrow Conservatives have campaigned on their record leading the council, promising to protect one-hour free parking, crack down on houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), resist overdevelopment in the green belt, prosecute fly-tipping and maintain clean streets, invest more in road resurfacing and repairs, and protect the Freedom Pass and Winter Fuel Payments. Harrow Labour has campaigned on six "key pledges", promising to freeze Council Tax in 2027, offer one-hour free parking, double residential cleaning to every two weeks, create an anti-social behaviour squad, introduce tougher penalties for fly-tippers and a private alleyway clearance scheme, and crack down on HMOs and rogue landlords. The Harrow Liberal Democrats published a manifesto promising to improve waste management standards to reduce littering, build affordable homes that are built sustainably, make Harrow attractive for business, get an 'Outstanding' Ofsted rating for council-provided children's services, improve contacting the council, and make improvements to roads with an emphasis on active travel and safety. Arise pledged to: stop the conversion of family homes into overcrowded HMOs, strengthen enforcement against rogue landlords, provide affordable homes by building council housing, investigate the high rate of school exclusions, ensure every child has a suitable school place, bring care homes under council control, introduce free adult social care at home with meals on wheels; create a not-for-profit community supermarket, divest the council from companies involved in human rights violations, such as in Palestine, Congo, and South Sudan, and repurpose empty buildings into community spaces. This includes 12 Green candidates, 11 Arise candidates, and 3 Labour candidates. == Campaign ==

The Conservatives are led by Paul Osborn, Labour is led by David Perry, the Lib Dems are chaired by Joseph Gaunt, the Harrow Greens are volunteer-led, Reform is chaired by Savitha Prakash, and Arise was founded by Pamela Fitzpatrick. The Conservatives say they have "restored" the Westfield Lane pathway and introduced a scheme against fine-dodgers. They also cite their red route in Rayners Lane. They also have announced a resident contact centre on Gayton Road. Will Jackson, a Conservative candidate in North Harrow, was deselected by the Conservatives after offensive social media comments, including saying independent MP Adnan Hussain should be bullied "back to Pakistan", and saying "Abolish all foreign MPs. Bye." in a reply to Your Party MP Zarah Sultana. The Conservative Party withdrew support for his campaign, describing his posts as "wholly unacceptable". He was suspended by the Conservatives. Harrow Labour is focusing on more social issues, such as children's provisions. Labour have attacked the Conservatives for "waste" projects and for increasing council tax every year. They have also said that voting Labour sends Reform "a message." David Perry has attacked "vanity projects [...] that have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds needlessly." Labour has also attacked the Conservatives for introducing evening and weekend parking charges in Council-owned car parks. Reform leader Savitha Prakash has claimed that the United Kingdom is "regressing back to how things were in India." Prakash has claimed Reform activists in Harrow were subjected to abuse online. Arise Harrow has been endorsed by Your Party, as one of multiple local independent groups it is supporting in the local elections. == Analysis ==

London School of Economics professor Tony Travers has said that the "Conservatives will hold Harrow", and described it as one of the party's safest boroughs in London. A YouGov MRP poll has predicted a Conservative win in 2026 with the Conservatives winning the largest share of the popular vote, with Labour, Reform and the Greens within three points of each other. ==Previous council composition==

These are the final candidates listed in the Statement of Persons Nominated released on 10 April 2026. Labour and Reform each have a full slate of candidates. Some Labour candidates are standing under the 'Labour and Co-operative' banner. No independents are standing. === Belmont (2) === Mina Parmar is in charge of Housing. === Canons (2) === === Centenary (3) === David Ashton is in charge of Finance and Highways. === Edgware (3) === === Greenhill (3) === === Harrow on the Hill (2) === Stephen Hickman shadows Children and Education Services. === Harrow Weald (3) === Stephen Greek is in charge of Performance, Communication and Customer Excellence. Eden Kulig shadows Performance, Communication and Customer Excellence. === Hatch End (2) === === Headstone (3) === Simon Brown shadows Adult Services and Public Health. Natasha Proctor is Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadows Finance and Highways. === Kenton East (3) === === Kenton West (2) === === Marlborough (3) === David Perry is Leader of the Opposition. === North Harrow (2) === Note: Will Jackson has been deselected by the Conservatives after "wholly unacceptable" comments but he will continue to be listed as the Conservative candidate on the ballot paper. === Pinner (3) === Paul Osborn is leader of Harrow Council. === Pinner South (3) === Hitesh Karia is in charge of Children and Education Services. Janet Mote is in charge of Community and Culture. Christopher Baxter is the Conservative chief whip. === Rayners Lane (2) === Krishna Suresh shadows Community and Culture. === Roxbourne (2) === Graham Henson shadows Housing. === Roxeth (3) === === Stanmore (3) === Marilyn Ashton is the Deputy Leader of the Council. === Wealdstone North (2) === === Wealdstone South (2) === === West Harrow (2) === Note: Nathan Smith has been deselected by the Conservatives after "deeply concerning" social media posts but he will continue to be listed as the Conservative candidate on the ballot paper as the official deadline for nominations had passed. == References ==