1949 London County Council election

1949 local election in England

← 1946

7 April 1949

1952 →

	First party	Second party	Third party
		Lab
Leader	Henry Brooke	Isaac Hayward	Percy Harris
Party	Conservative	Labour	Liberal
Leader since	1946	1947
Leader's seat	Cities of London and Westminster	Deptford	Bethnal Green
Seats won	64	64	1
Seat change	34	26	1
Popular vote	1,526,000	1,404,805	37,266
Percentage	50.9%	46.9%	1.2%

An election to the County Council of London took place on 7 April 1949. The council was elected by First Past the Post with each elector having three votes in the three-member seats. The Conservative Party made substantial gains, achieving the same number of seats as the Labour Party. However, Labour held the chair of the council, and was thus able to retain control.

The constituencies were completely reorganised before the election. The 60 former two-member constituencies and one four-member constituency were replaced by 43 three-member constituencies, to align with the UK Parliamentary constituencies due to be introduced at the 1950 UK general election.

Campaign

The Labour Party campaigned on its progress on the County of London Plan, its construction of housing and schools, and its takeover of health services.

The Conservative Party chose not to stand candidates in Bethnal Green, where it hoped its supporters would instead vote for the Liberal Party candidates. It argued that the Labour administration was short of talent.

The Liberal Party and Communist Party of Great Britain each stood only six candidates, and hoped to retain representation in their strongest areas: Bethnal Green for the Liberals, and Stepney for the Communists.

Results

The Conservative Party secured the most votes, but won the same number of seats as the Labour Party. The Liberal Party leader Percy Harris was the only other councillor to win a seat. The Communist Party failed to win any seats. Because there were ten appointed aldermen, all Labour representatives, Labour retained a majority for the election of a new chair, who would hold a casting vote. While this would usually be a council member, the party instead selected J. W. Bowen, a party member who was not on the council, and thereby secured an ongoing majority. Thus assured, it agreed to a Conservative proposal to arrange for the election of new aldermen in proportion to the party strengths.

Turnout at the election was 39%, a considerable increase from 26% three years earlier.

Party		Votes			Seats
Party		Number	%	Stood	Seats	%
	Conservative	1,526,000	50.9	126	64	49.6
	Labour	1,404,805	46.9	129	64	49.6
	Liberal	37,266	1.2	6	1	0.8
	Communist	26,666	0.9	6	0	0.0
	Union Movement	1,253	0.0	2	0	0.0
	Independent	617	0.0	1	0	0.0

References

^ "LCC election nominations". The Times. 23 March 1949.
^ "LCC polling to-morrow". The Times. 6 April 1949.
"Challenge to Labour control". The Times. 7 April 1949.
^ "Parties dead heat in LCC elections". The Times. 9 April 1949.
"Labour control of LCC". The Times. 14 April 1949.

v t e 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

v t e 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

v t e (1948 ←) 1949 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1950)
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