The 1964 Lambeth Council election took place on 7 May 1964 to elect members of

Lambeth London Borough Council Lambeth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, and one of the 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council meets at Lambeth Town Hall ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour party gained control of the council. The election is notable for being the first one ever fought by

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

Background

These elections were the first to the newly formed borough. Previously elections had taken place in the

Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth Lambeth was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of th ...

and

Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth The Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth was a Metropolitan borough under the London County Council, from 1900 to 1965. History The borough was formed from five civil parishes: Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting Graveney and Wandsworth. In 1904 t ...

. These boroughs were joined to form the new London Borough of Lambeth by the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

. A total of 159 candidates stood in the election for the 60 seats being contested across 20 wards. These included a full slate from the Conservative and Labour parties, while the Liberals stood 30 candidates. Other candidates included 6 Communists and 3 Independents. All wards were three-seat wards. This election had

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

as well as directly elected

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

. Labour got 9 aldermen and the Conservatives 1. The Council was elected in 1964 as a "shadow authority" but did not start operations until 1 April 1965.

Election result

The results saw Labour gain the new council with a majority of 24 after winning 42 of the 60 seats. Overall turnout in the election was 26.1%. This turnout included 832

postal votes Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an ele ...

Background

Election result

Ward results

Angell

Bishop's

Clapham Park

Clapham Town

Ferndale

Herne Hill

Knight's Hill

Larkhall

Leigham

Oval

Prince's

St Leonard's

Stockwell

Streatham South

Streatham Wells

Thornton

Thurlow Park

Town Hall

Tulse Hill

Vassall

References

See also