From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

2026 Watford Borough Council election

The 2026 Watford Borough Council election will be held on 7 May 2026, alongside the other local elections across the United Kingdom being held on the same day, to elect 12 of 36 members of Watford Borough Council. The election will be held alongside the 2026 Watford mayoral election.

The 2026 Watford Borough Council election will be held on 7 May 2026, alongside the other local elections across the United Kingdom being held on the same day, to elect 12 of 36 members of Watford Borough Council. The election will be held alongside the 2026 Watford mayoral election.

Due to ongoing local government reorganisation, this will be the final election to Watford Borough Council before it is abolished and replaced by a successor unitary authority. Elections to the successor authority are due to take place in 2027.

In the 2024 local elections, the Liberal Democrats won 11 of the 12 seats up for election, including three seats gained from the Labour Party, who held their leader's seat of Holywell. With their election win, the Liberal Democrats maintained their 21-year control of the council. In the 2024 general election, the Labour Party candidate Matt Turmaine gained the Watford constituency from the Conservative Party incumbent Dean Russell. In January 2026, the council was given the option to cancel the 2026 elections in preparation for local government reorganisation, however, the council decided to proceed with the elections to "allow residents the right to exercise their democratic rights".

Three by-elections were held between the 2024 and 2026 elections:

Ward	Date	Winner	Cause
Holywell	1 May 2025	Labour	Matt Turmaine	Labour	Asma Suleman	Elected as the Member of Parliament for Watford
Oxhey	1 May 2025	Liberal Democrats	Chris Newstead	Liberal Democrats	Iain Sharpe	Resigned due to moving out of area
Tudor	4 December 2025	Liberal Democrats	Charlott Saunders	Liberal Democrats	Callum Robertson	Resigned due to personal reasons

Ward	Incumbent councillor	Party	Re-standing
Callowland	Ian Stotesbury	Liberal Democrats	Yes
Central	Aga Dychton	Liberal Democrats	Yes
Holywell	Asma Suleman	Labour	Yes
Leggatts	Shafiq Ahmed	Liberal Democrats	No
Meriden	Jennifer Pattinson	Liberal Democrats	Yes
Nascot	Tom Osborn	Liberal Democrats	Yes
Oxhey	Kennedy Rodrigues	Liberal Democrats	No
Park	Peter Kloss	Liberal Democrats	Yes
Stanborough	Lenny Nembhard	Liberal Democrats	No
Tudor	Stephen Johnson	Liberal Democrats	No
Vicarage	Nasreen Shah	Labour	Yes
Woodside	Glen Saffery	Liberal Democrats	Yes

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}±%
	Labour
	Reform
	Conservative
	Green
	Liberal Democrats

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green
	Liberal Democrats
	Conservative
	Labour
	Reform

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform
	Green
	TUSC
	Conservative
	Liberal Democrats
	Labour

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform
	Green
	TUSC
	Heritage
	Conservative
	Labour
	Liberal Democrats

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform
	Liberal Democrats
	Conservative
	Labour
	Green

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour
	Conservative
	Reform
	Green
	Liberal Democrats

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative
	Labour
	Liberal Democrats
	Green
	Reform

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform
	Liberal Democrats
	Green
	Conservative
	Labour

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats
	Reform
	Green
	Labour
	Conservative

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform
	Green
	Labour
	Conservative
	Liberal Democrats

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative
	Reform
	Liberal Democrats
	Green
	TUSC
	Labour

Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative
	Reform
	Labour
	Liberal Democrats
	Green

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 2026 Watford Borough Council election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report