With the Conservatives just eight votes away from taking the council by winning a second seat in Whetstone, Nicole Bowen reports on a day of high drama at the RAF Museum

A row of people standing behind a woman at a lectern with aircraft in the background — Labour leader Barry Rawlings (centre in red tie) holds off the Greens in Friern Barnet ward

Labour has lost overall control of Barnet Council after suffering major losses in the 2026 local elections, leaving the authority politically deadlocked.

The final results left Labour and the Conservatives tied on 31 seats each, with the Green Party winning a single seat in Woodhouse and holding the balance of power. A party requires 32 seats to command a majority on the 63-seat council.

However, everything would have been different if the Conservatives had won eight more votes in the split Whetstone ward, where the party’s second candidate Kevin Ghateh finished seven behind reelected Labour councillor Ezra Cohen. A second Tory victory there would have seem the party secure the narrowest of majorities.

As it is, the result shows a sharp reversal from 2022, when Labour took control of Barnet for the first time since the borough was created in 1965, winning 41 seats under council leader Barry Rawlings.

Labour lost six wards during the election, with most gains going to the Conservatives, led by Peter Zinkin, who was re-elected in Golders Green.

Labour’s most damaging defeats were in Childs Hill and Brunswick Park, where the party lost all three seats in each ward to the Conservatives.

The council will hold its ‘annual meeting’ on 19th May where councillors will vote on who gets to lead the administration but there is likely to be significant behind the scenes discussion before that.

Greens make breakthrough (and gain pivotal role)

The Green Party recorded its strongest-ever performance in Barnet, winning its first council seat in the borough and emerging as a significant challenger to Labour in several wards.

In Woodhouse, Green candidate Charli Thompson led the poll with 1,331 votes, taking a seat from Labour and helping create a split ward between Labour and the Greens.

While taking gaining its first elected councillor in Barnet is big for the Greens, the result took on additional significance after it was confirmed that the council was in no overall control. This situation means Thompson’s vote is likely to determine which of the bigger parties gets to lead the council.

The Greens also pushed Labour hard in Friern Barnet, despite former Labour councillor Linda Lusingu failing to win re-election, who defected to the Greens before the election. Although Labour held all three seats, including that of council leader Barry Rawlings, Green candidates finished only a few hundred votes behind.

Reform falls short

Reform UK fielded a full set of candidates across Barnet for the first time after former Conservative leader Mark Shooter defected to the party in 2024.

Shooter himself stood in West Hendon but was unsuccessful as Labour retained the ward.

While Reform UK failed to win any seats in Barnet, the party still mounted notable challenges in parts of the borough, particularly in Conservative-leaning areas. Reform performed strongest in wards including Edgware and Edgwarebury but was unable to convert votes into seats.

Tight races and fragmented voting

Several wards produced exceptionally close contests.

In Whetstone, Labour narrowly held onto one seat after several recounts, with Labour’s Ezra Cohen defeating Conservative Kevin Ghateh by just seven votes.

Mill Hill also attracted attention after independent candidates outpolled several parties. Independent candidate Frank Orman received more than 1,000 votes, outperforming Green, Reform and Liberal Democrat candidates in the ward.

High Barnet and East Barnet also emerged as important battlegrounds, where votes for the Conservatives contributed to split wards and fragmented voting patterns.

In a nail biting finish to the count, it was David Allen’s win for the Tories in East Barnet at the expense of outgoing deputy mayor Edith David that ultimately tipped the council into no overall control.

The election also saw an unusually high number of split wards, with five wards returning councillors from more than one party. Barnet Vale had previously been the borough’s only split ward following the 2022 election.

A total of 312 candidates contested the 63 seats on Barnet Council, a significant increase on the 207 candidates who stood in the 2022 election.

The full set of results are here or on the Barnet Council website: https://www.barnet.gov.uk/elections-and-voting/local-government-elections-thursday-7-may-2026/results

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.