1955 London County Council election

1955 local election in England

← 1952

31 March 1955

1958 →

	First party	Second party

Leader	Isaac Hayward	Norris Kenyon
Party	Labour	Conservative
Leader since	1947	1952
Leader's seat	Alderman	Paddington South
Seats won	74	52
Seat change	18	15
Popular vote	1,143,948	956,543
Percentage	50.5%	47.5%

An election to the County Council of London took place on 31 March 1955. The council was elected by First Past the Post with each elector having three votes in the three-member seats. The Conservative Party made significant gains, but the Labour Party retained a substantial majority.

The size of the council was cut by three members, with Fulham East, Fulham West and Hammersmith South abolished, and replaced in part by the new constituencies of Barons Court and Fulham. This mirrored changes to constituencies for the House of Commons which were implemented at the 1955 general election, shortly afterwards.

Campaign

The Labour Party began their campaign with a celebration at the Royal Festival Hall, to mark twenty-one years of running the council, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Daily Herald. A newspaper strike limited coverage of the election; the Manchester Guardian noted that there were fewer posters and fewer meetings than in previous elections, although parties were doing more doorstep campaigning.

The Labour Party manifesto proposed more comprehensive schools, and championed their programmes of house building and improved services for children and elderly people. The Conservative Party opposed comprehensive schools, and argued that the council wasted money, proposing that civic restaurants should be closed and residential nurseries reduce their costs. Several constituencies were expected to see close battles between the two: Battersea South, Holborn and St Pancras South, Wandsworth Central and Woolwich West. Barons Court was considered an unknown, as a completely new seat.

The Liberal Party manifesto proposed more housing, schools, nurseries and play areas, with their highest hopes of a seat being in Bethnal Green. The Communist Party focused on housing and opposition to nuclear weapons.

Results

The Conservatives gained fourteen seats from Labour. Barons Court was particularly closely fought, with six recounts required before the result was announced: two Labour seats, and one Conservative. Once the new and abolished seats were taken into account, Labour were down 18 seats, and the Conservatives up 15.

Turnout was particularly low, at 32%. In Woolwich West, it reached 55.9%, but in Stepney it fell to only 17.6%.

Party		Votes			Seats
Party		Number	%	Stood	Seats	%
	Labour	1,143,948	50.5	126	74	58.7
	Conservative	956,543	47.5	126	52	41.3
	Liberal	27,615	1.2	34	0	0.0
	Communist	11,473	0.5	13	0	0.0
	Union Movement	5,053	0.2	9	0	0.0
	Independent	2,160	0.1	4	0	0.0

References

^ "Battle of Barons Court". The Times. 11 May 1955.
"Pulling together for 21 years". Manchester Guardian. 9 March 1955.
^ "London paying its respects to politics?". Manchester Guardian. 29 March 1955.
^ "Labour lead cut on LCC". Manchester Guardian. 2 April 1955.
"New county councils". The Times. 2 April 1955.

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 (1954 ←) 1955 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1956)
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