1946 London County Council election

7 March 1946

	First party	Second party
		Con
Leader	Charles Latham	Harold Webbe
Party	Labour	Conservative
Leader since	1933	1936
Leader's seat	Alderman	City of London
Last election	76	48
Seats won	90	30
Seat change	14	18

	Third party	Fourth party
	CPGB
Leader	Ted Bramley and Jack Gaster	Percy Harris
Party	Communist	Liberal
Leader's seat	Mile End	Bethnal Green South West
Last election	0	0
Seats won	2	2
Seat change	2	2
Popular vote	15,353	11,119

An election to the County Council of London took place on 7 March 1946. The council was elected by First Past the Post with each elector having two votes in the two-member seats. The Labour Party once more made gains, again increasing their majority over the Conservative Party.

Campaign

Due to World War II, no election had been held to the council since 1937.^[1]

The Labour Party stood candidates in all constituencies except the City of London, and Westminster St George's. Its manifesto proposed a major programme of house building, new schools, and the adoption of the County of London Plan.^[2] The Conservative Party proposed appointing a housing director with responsibility for the construction of new houses, and opposed building large secondary schools, instead arguing for smaller technical schools.^[1]

Results

The Labour Party won its largest ever majority, gaining eighteen seats from the Conservative Party. The Manchester Guardian argued that the Conservatives would be satisfied with the election, despite their losses, as their results were better than in the 1945 UK general election.^[3] However, Labour lost two seats to the Liberal Party, which had not been represented on the council since 1934, and two to the Communist Party of Great Britain, which had never previously held seats on the council.^[4]

Turnout at the election was 26.4%, the lowest since the 1919 London County Council election. While it was as high as 34.6% in Fulham West, it was a mere 11.8% in Shoreditch.^[5]

Party		Votes^[6]			Seats
Party		Number	%	Stood	Seats	%
	Labour	291,138	55.0	118	90	72.6
	Conservative	222,840	42.1	100	30	24.2
	Communist	15,353		10	2	1.6
	Liberal	11,119		6	2	1.6
	National Liberal	1,930		3	0	0.0
	British People's Party	1,916		6	0	0.0
	Independent	1,184		2	0	0.0

References

1 2 "London polling to-morrow". The Times. 6 March 1946.
↑ "Labour's plans for London". The Times. 6 February 1946.
↑ "New LCC seats for Labour". Manchester Guardian. 9 March 1946.
↑ "The new LCC". The Times. 9 March 1946.
↑ "LCC election poll". The Times. 1 June 1946.
↑ Council. "London County Council Elections 1889 - 1961" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2019.

London County Council
Elections	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961
Members	Chairmen Members 1889-1919 Members 1919-1937 Members 1937-1949 Members 1949-1965
Constituencies (1889–1919)	Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green North East Bethnal Green South West Bow and Bromley Brixton Camberwell North Chelsea City of London Clapham Deptford Dulwich Finsbury Central Finsbury East Fulham Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North Hackney South Haggerston Hammersmith Hampstead Holborn Hoxton Islington East Islington North Islington South Islington West Kennington Kensington North Kensington South Lambeth North Lewisham Limehouse Marylebone East Marylebone West Mile End Newington West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Rotherhithe St George's Hanover Square St George St Pancras East St Pancras North St Pancras South St Pancras West Southwark West Stepney Strand Walworth Wandsworth Westminster Whitechapel Woolwich
Constituencies (1919–1949)	Balham and Tooting Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey West Bethnal Green North East Bethnal Green South West Bow and Bromley Brixton Camberwell North Camberwell North West Chelsea City of London Clapham Deptford Dulwich Finsbury Fulham East Fulham West Greenwich Hackney Central Hackney North Hackney South Hammersmith North Hammersmith South Hampstead Holborn Islington East Islington North Islington South Islington West Kennington Kensington North Kensington South Lambeth North Lewisham East Lewisham West Limehouse Mile End Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar South Putney Rotherhithe St Marylebone St Pancras North St Pancras South East St Pancras South West Shoreditch Southwark Central Southwark North Southwark South East Stoke Newington Streatham Wandsworth Central Westminster Abbey Westminster St George's Whitechapel and St George's Woolwich East Woolwich West
Constituencies (1949–1964)	Barons Court (1955–1964) Battersea North Battersea South Bermondsey Bethnal Green Brixton Chelsea Cities of London and Westminster Clapham Deptford Dulwich Fulham (1955–1965) Fulham East (1949–1955) Fulham West (1949–1955) Greenwich Hackney Central (1955–1964) Hackney South (1949–1955) Hammersmith North Hammersmith South (1949–1955) Hampstead Holborn and St Pancras South Islington East Islington North Islington South West Kensington North Kensington South Lewisham North Lewisham South Lewisham West Norwood Paddington North Paddington South Peckham Poplar Putney St Marylebone St Pancras North Shoreditch and Finsbury Southwark Stepney Stoke Newington and Hackney North Streatham Vauxhall Wandsworth Central Woolwich East Woolwich West
Other topics	Tramways Coat of Arms County Hall

Elections and referendums in London
Mayor of London	2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2021 2024
London Assembly	2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2021 2024
Inner London Education Authority	1986
Greater London Council	1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981
London County Council	1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961
Borough Councils	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Referendums	1998
See also Elections in London Boroughs Middlesex County Council elections

(1945 ←) 1946 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1947)
County councils (England)	Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumberland Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Riding East Suffolk East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Holland Huntingdonshire Isle of Ely Isle of Wight Kent Kesteven Lancashire Leicestershire Lindsey London Middlesex Norfolk North Riding Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Soke of Peterborough Somerset Staffordshire Surrey Warwickshire West Riding West Suffolk West Sussex Westmorland Wiltshire Worcestershire
County councils (Wales)	Anglesey Brecknockshire Carnarvonshire Cardiganshire Carmarthenshire Denbighshire Flintshire Glamorganshire Merionethshire Monmouthshire Montgomeryshire Pembrokeshire Radnorshire
Municipal borough councils	Bebington
Northern Irish councils	Londonderry

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