Lewisham Labour Manifesto 2026

Lewisham Labour have released their manifesto for the local elections on Thursday, 7th May 2026.

The purpose of a manifesto is to set out the priorities and platform of the local party. The officers of Lewisham Council will be responsible for ensuring that the political objectives are translated into action. This will be expressed in a corporate plan for the governance of the borough.

Lewisham-Labour-Manifesto-2026

As one of the few local councils to have a directly elected mayor, the result of the borough wide vote for the political leader of the London borough will be crucial.

However, this election will differ from previous elections for a directly elected mayor because the voting system has been changed. Voters will no longer have the opportunity to cast two votes and the wining candidate will no longer have to command a consensus in that they receive over 50% of the votes in the first round or the majority in both rounds of voting. This election will be held using first past the post. The same procedure will be used for Lewisham Council’s 54 local Councillors.

The Elections Act 2022 abolished alternative voting arrangements for mayors using the Supplementary Vote (SV) system in England. Academics and governance specialists questioned the wisdom of this change at the time. They argued this may damage the position of any directly elected mayor by reducing their direct mandate from the electorate.

This was not just an esoteric argument about electoral systems, it had real world consequences for communities and our democracy. Elected mayors make crucial decisions that impact every person in their area, so it is vital that they command broad support. In short, who wins and how much support they command from their communities matters – Electoral Reform Society

Looking at the history of directly elected mayors, the need for wider support was documented in an extensive consultation process culminating in a White Paper, ‘Modern local government: in touch with the people‘ published in March 1998.

These local elections will be a real time test. The Labour Government has tabled a Bill to reverse the 2022 changes but this has proved too late for this set of local elections.