An election to the

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took place on 3 March 1898. The council was elected by

First Past the Post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

with each elector having two votes in the two-member seats. The

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

won a substantial majority on the council.

Campaign

The Progressives contended that, because the last election had resulted in a tie in the number of councillors, the council had made little progress over the past three years. They argued that they had successfully led

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programmes. They proposed that the council should maintain its existing policy of refusing to sell alcohol in premises it owned, should seek to levy increased taxes on landlords, and should aim to municipalise the gas and water supplies. The Moderates argued that the Progressives were fighting on party political lines, and that as a result, they would too. They contended that the Progressives wanted to adopted socialist policies, and that they had wasted money by overspending on building projects. Instead, the Moderates advocated passing the majority of the council's responsibilities to the Metropolitan Borough Councils. The election in

Hackney Central Hackney Central is a sub-district of Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney in London, England and is four miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross. The Hackney Central area is focused on Mare Street and the retail areas to the north o ...

was delayed, due to the death of one of the candidates.

Results

The Progressive Party gained 16 seats from the Moderates and lost only 4 seats to them, winning a substantial majority. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' noted that this was less than their majority in the 1892 London County Council election, and did not necessarily mean that the voters of London would support the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

at the next UK general election.

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 1898 1898 elections in the United Kingdom County Council election London County Council election London County Council elections London County Council election