A new YouGov MRP has Labour and the Greens neck‑and‑neck in Lambeth. Nationally, Reform is already winning seats that progressive majorities should have held. Lambeth’s progressive majority is not a given — it has to be delivered, in every ward, on one ballot.
What the polling actually says
On 23 April 2026, YouGov’s MRP for Lambeth put Labour and the Green Party level in the battle for control of the town hall. The Greens are openly targeting outright control of the council for the first time in the borough’s history. The BBC’s curtain‑raiser on the Lambeth contest confirms a much tighter race than any London borough Labour has defended in a generation.
The point of an MRP is that it models ward by ward. In a seat-by-seat contest, a progressive majority that splits three ways does not elect a progressive council.
Why this matters beyond Lambeth
Across the country, Reform UK has been winning council seats that on paper belonged to the centre‑left. Ten miles outside Greater Manchester on 22 April 2026, Reform took Salford’s Barton and Winton ward — a seat Labour had held with 71.8 per cent in 2022 — with 676 votes to Labour’s 643, the Greens’ 363 and the Liberal Democrats’ 94. More than 1,100 residents voted for a party of the centre‑left. Reform won on 676.
The arithmetic is the same everywhere. When the anti‑Reform vote consolidates, Reform loses. When it fragments, Reform wins on a minority of the turnout.
What a Labour Lambeth has built
The Labour administration led by Cllr Claire Holland — awarded an OBE in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to local government and to the victims of the Clapham Common vigil (Love Lambeth) — has a record of delivery that no other party in the borough can match:
– Investing in the places Lambeth loves — renovating libraries and leisure centres, investing in parks, and 12,000 trees planted across the borough.
– The best borough in London to grow up in — every secondary school in Lambeth rated good or outstanding, free school meals for every primary child, and holiday clubs through every school break.
– Genuinely affordable social homes — building new council and social‑rent homes, seven‑day‑a‑week outreach services for rough sleepers, and stronger rights for renters.
– Safer communities — funding neighbourhood policing, tackling the causes of crime, and dedicated support for residents with drug and alcohol addictions.
– Cost‑of‑living protection — the Freedom Pass protected, a Lambeth council tax support scheme, and targeted help for families in hardship.
This is the record of a council that has governed with competence through fourteen years of Conservative austerity, a pandemic, and the worst cost‑of‑living crisis in a generation.
What is at stake across the borough
The investment going into Lambeth is not theoretical — it is being delivered, right now, across every part of the borough.
In Brixton and Stockwell, Black Cultural Archives funding, estate regeneration delivering new social‑rent homes, and investment in Windrush Square.
In Streatham, Streatham Hill and Streatham Wells, the council has kept Streatham’s libraries and leisure centre open, is delivering new council homes, and continues to invest in the high street.
In Clapham, Stockwell East and Oval, new community spaces, renovated parks and continued youth provision anchor neighbourhoods that were on the frontline of austerity.
In Norwood, West Norwood, Knight’s Hill and Gipsy Hill, West Norwood Library and Picturehouse, the Norwood Feast, and ongoing investment in South Norwood’s green spaces are part of a borough‑wide plan.
In Vauxhall, Kennington and Waterloo, major housing delivery, the Nine Elms extension legacy and continued pressure on developers for genuinely affordable homes are shaping the next decade of the borough.
In Herne Hill, Tulse Hill, Ferndale and Brixton Hill, restored parks, refurbished leisure centres and protected libraries show what a Labour administration is for.
The choice on 7 May
Local elections take place across Lambeth on Thursday 7 May 2026.
If you care about every secondary school staying good or outstanding; about the Freedom Pass being protected; about rough sleepers having seven‑day outreach; about social homes actually being built — there is one way to keep that work going: vote Labour.
A vote for the Greens, the Liberal Democrats, an independent or anyone else may feel like a protest. In a tight ward it is a vote that helps fragment the progressive majority, and nationally Reform has shown exactly what happens when that majority fragments. It is how Reform takes seats that should never have been in play. It is how a borough that has always stood for solidarity ends up represented by people who do not share its values.
Cllr Claire Holland OBE leads a Labour council that has renovated libraries, planted trees, protected the Freedom Pass, kept schools good or outstanding, and built social homes through fourteen years of Tory cuts. That work is not finished. The progress of the last decade — in Brixton, Streatham, Clapham, Norwood, Vauxhall and Herne Hill — is on the ballot.
On 7 May, vote Labour — and keep Lambeth moving forward.