Barnet stays red as Tories agree deal with Labour

It means the borough’s only Green councillor has been frozen out of power, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Hendon Town Hall was lit up with red lighting last night (credit Joe Ives/LDRS)

Labour have retained power at Barnet Council despite having no overall majority – after reaching a deal with Conservative councillors.

Incumbent leader Barry Rawlings was re-elected to run a new, Labour minority administration yesterday (Tuesday 19th), following a vote at the first full council meeting since the local elections held on Thursday, 7th May.

After the meeting concluded, Hendon Town Hall greeted the coming darkness with red lights illuminating its façade. Whether this was a minor gesture of celebration from the Labour administration is unclear.

To passers-by, a message conveyed in LED shades of claret may even have come across as slightly menacing. From the outside, the same response may be assumed of Barnet Conservatives, who did not get the opportunity to take back control of the local authority after losing it in 2022.

That may still be the overall feeling. Nevertheless, the coming administration is set to have a significantly bluer hue than before, with the first details of the Labour-Conservative agreement published by the local authority late on Tuesday evening.

The deal sees Labour hold on to every exisiting cabinet post, while conceding a number of avenues of influence at the council to the Tories.

This includes the appointment of Conservative opposition leader Peter Zinkin as a non-executive member of the cabinet. It is a move, the council says, that will “allow opposition input into discussions”.

Labour members also agreed to give the Conservatives “enhanced arrangements” which, the council says, will give the group “more meaningful opportunities to scrutinise decisions before they are taken”.

This includes Conservative chairs for most overview and scrutiny sub-committees, as well as the creation of two new sub-committees “to scrutinise finance and growth and environment matters”.

In addition, Tory councillors will also chair the governance, audit, risk management and standards committee and the pension fund committee. In exchange, Labour will cling on to its control of decision-making committees such as planning and licensing.

Barry Rawlings is applauded by Labour colleagues as he is re-appointed to lead Barnet Council on 19th May 2026 (credit Joe Ives/LDRS)

At the full council meeting on Tuesday the agreement meant the Conservatives abstained from the vote on Cllr Rawlings’ re-appointment as council leader, effectively conceding to Labour, who gave him 31 votes in favour.

Cllr Zinkin himself was performatively nominated by his Conservative colleagues, who gave him their unanimous support. Labour members and the newly-elected Green councillor for Woodhouse ward, Charli Thompson, voted against.

Cllr Thompson also voted against Rawlings’ appointment – the only councillor to do so.

Less controversial was the mayoral appointment of Zahra Beg, who will take over from Danny Rich as the borough’s civic mayor to serve the 2026/27 term.

In a statement released shortly after the meeting, Cllr Rawlings said he was “honoured to be reappointed to serve as leader of the council”.

Labour councillors, he said, “will work constructively with the opposition to govern in the best interests of residents and deliver the improvements Barnet residents need and deserve”.

Even before Tuesday evening it was clear any new iteration of the Labour administration would differ significantly from one that preceded it. Going into the elections this month Labour held a historic 40-seat majority. The Conservatives had 19 councillors. the Greens and Reform UK, meanwhile, held one seat each.

Both Labour and the Conservatives won 31 seats at the poll on 7th May. Both, therefore, were one councillor short of a majority. Despite this, neither group was willing to form a deal with Cllr Thompson, the single Green councillor for Woodhouse ward.

Barnet Labour blamed “significant policy differences” preventing negotiations with the Greens. Their Tory counterparts, meanwhile, kept the door firmly closed, citing “unbridgeable” differences on policy issues.

The new administration may, then, be its own case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Or, perhaps, agreeing to disagree – that is, at the very least, until disagreements arrive.

With hugely differing opinions on how to solve the major issuers facing the local authority, including its spiraling financial deficit, Tuesday’s resolution represents more of a semi-colon than a full stop – an untested treaty formed after nearly two weeks of back-and-forth discussions and political intrigue.

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