Jason Perry Retains Mayoralty Amid Divided Council Vote in Croydon 2026

Key Points

• Mayoral Victory: Incumbent Conservative Executive Mayor Jason Perry won re-election to a second term with 35,871 votes (30.7%), narrowly defeating Labour’s Rowenna Davis by 1,113 votes.
• No Overall Control: The Croydon Council remains under No Overall Control (NOC), as no individual political party reached the threshold required to claim an absolute majority.
• Major Losses for Main Parties: Both primary political groups lost considerable ground, with Labour dropping 4 seats to finish at 30, and the Conservatives dropping 5 seats to end up with 28.
• Green Surge: The Green Party emerged as the most significant beneficiary of local voting shifts, securing an additional 6 seats to increase their overall council presence to 8.
• Minor Parties Break Through: Reform UK secured its first 2 seats on the council (+2), while the Liberal Democrats marginal progress yielded 2 seats (+1).
• Voter Turnout: The total ballot volume resulted in an overall voter turnout of approximately 40.99% for the highly contested mayoral race.

Croydon (South London News) May 25, 2026 — Executive Mayor Jason Perry successfully retained his mayoral position for the Conservatives in the 7 May local elections, even as his party suffered severe losses alongside Labour in a highly fractured council vote. The official declaration confirmed that while Perry secured a slim victory over his closest Labour challenger, Rowenna Davis, the wider council chamber shifted significantly toward smaller third-party factions.

With all 70 council seats contested across the borough, the authority firmly maintained its status of No Overall Control (NOC). Neither Labour, which holds 30 seats after losing 4, nor the Conservatives, who sit at 28 seats after losing 5, managed to establish an absolute majority. Instead, the local electorate handed unprecedented power to the Green Party, which surged to 8 seats, alongside minor gains for both Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.

What Happened in Croydon in the 2026 Council Election, and Who Won?

As officially updated on the Croydon Council election portal by Elaine Jackson, the Returning Officer and Chief Executive of Croydon Council, the local authority entered an intense period of political fragmentation following the verification of all ballots. The complete council chamber realignment split the 70 seats among five distinct political parties, leaving the borough without a dominant single-party leadership structure.

How Did the Individual Parties Perform in the Council Race?

The breakdown of the council seats reflects an explicit erosion of support for the two main political operations inside the borough, counterbalanced by a dramatic rise in support for environmental and right-leaning independent platforms. The shifting composition of the council seats concluded as follows:

• Labour: 30 seats (A net loss of 4 seats compared to prior standings)
• Conservative: 28 seats (A net loss of 5 seats compared to prior standings)
• Green Party: 8 seats (A net increase of 6 seats)
• Liberal Democrats: 2 seats (A net increase of 1 seat)
• Reform UK: 2 seats (A net increase of 2 seats)

As reported by data analysts at PollCheck, Labour remains the single largest party inside the Town Hall at 30 seats, but fell well short of the 35 seats required to secure functional, outright control of the local authority.

What Were the Detailed Results of the Mayoral Contest?

The executive mayoral race, which utilizes a first-past-the-post voting mechanism to select the borough’s leader, proved to be an exceptionally tight, multi-candidate battle. According to the final tables released by the Croydon Council communications office, the absolute votes and percentage shares distributed across the eight verified candidates finished as follows:

The total electorate recorded across the London Borough of Croydon stood at 286,933, with 117,616 total ballot papers issued, alongside 675 rejected or spoilt ballots. The definitive turnout figure reached 40.99%, reflecting steady engagement from the local population in choosing their executive leader.

Which Key Wards Witnessed the Most Significant Electoral Swings?

The dramatic rise of third parties reshaped the borough’s political map, with specific geographic strongholds experiencing historic seat changes. As documented by local democracy reporters compiling individual ward sheets, the undercurrents of the campaign manifested through critical structural transitions in both the south and north of the borough.

How Did the Greens and Reform UK Achieve Their Breakthroughs?

As tracked in the ward-by-ward breakdowns on the official council newsroom feed, the Green Party’s massive gains were anchored in urban areas such as South Norwood and Woodside. In South Norwood, candidates Tracey Jo Hague and Martyn Post secured election under the Green banner alongside Labour’s Melanie Dorothea Felten. Meanwhile, in Woodside, Laura Bradnam successfully picked up another seat for the Greens, demonstrating a progressive move away from Labour in traditionally reliable territory.

Conversely, Reform UK registered its institutional breakthrough in New Addington South. Candidates Scott Holman and Adam Kellett were both elected to represent the ward, capitalising on growing working-class dissatisfaction with the main parties. This marks the first time that Reform UK has captured local government representation inside the Croydon Town Hall.

Where Did the Liberal Democrats and Independents Alter the Balance?

The Liberal Democrats maintained their presence and picked up a vital seat in Old Coulsdon, where Gill Hickson was elected alongside long-standing Conservative representative Margaret Bird. In other highly competitive wards, such as Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, the vote was split heavily. In that area, Labour’s Rowenna Davis topped the mayoral poll figures, but the council seats remained split as Green and Liberal Democrat campaigns ate into the traditional majorities.

Background of the Croydon Governance and Financial Crisis

To accurately parse the current division within the Croydon electorate, one must examine the severe financial turbulence that has defined the local authority over the past six years. In 2020, the London Borough of Croydon effectively declared bankruptcy by issuing its first Section 114 notice, admitting it could not balance its budget. This fiscal collapse was driven by a combination of high-risk commercial property investments, structural deficits within its housing department, and a legacy of over-borrowing that exceeded £1.5 billion.

In the immediate aftermath of the initial financial collapse, subsequent Section 114 notices were issued in 2021 and 2022. The crisis forced the central UK government to intervene directly, appointing a panel of independent commissioners to oversee the council’s day-to-day spending and recovery trajectory. This governance failure severely damaged the local reputation of the Labour Party, which had held overall control of the council during the run-up to the structural insolvency.

In response to widespread public anger regarding administrative transparency, a governance referendum was triggered by residents in late 2021. The public voted overwhelmingly to abandon the leader-and-cabinet model in favour of a directly elected executive mayor system. This structural shift was intended to centralise accountability in a single individual who would answer directly to the entire borough rather than to council faction leaders.

The initial mayoral contest in 2022 resulted in a narrow victory for Conservative candidate Jason Perry, who assumed control of an authority with heavily restricted spending capabilities. Over his first four-year term, Mayor Perry worked alongside government commissioners to implement a string of drastic cost-cutting measures, asset sales, and property tax hikes—including an unprecedented 15% council tax rise in 2023 permitted by central government dispensation.

The 2026 local elections represent the first comprehensive public assessment of both Mayor Perry’s fiscal management strategy and the broader local accountability of all major political parties since the height of the financial emergency.

Prediction: How the Divided Administration Will Affect Local Residents

The return of a split council alongside a narrowly re-elected Conservative Executive Mayor is highly likely to present distinct governance hurdles for the residents, business owners, and taxpayers of Croydon over the upcoming term. Because the Executive Mayor holds a distinct mandate to draft borough budgets and direct policy priorities, Mayor Perry will retain substantial administrative authority. However, because his party does not hold a majority in the council chamber, every major statutory proposal, spatial development strategy, and budget allocation must secure cross-party consensus to pass.

For the ordinary resident, this layout indicates that municipal decision-making will likely slow down due to political gridlock. The expansion of the Green Party to 8 seats transforms them into an essential legislative voting bloc. To secure the passage of upcoming council budgets, the mayoral office may be forced to make policy concessions on local environmental initiatives, such as expanding green spaces, modifying low-traffic neighbourhoods, or altering recycling collection frameworks.

Furthermore, the introduction of Reform UK into the chamber ensures that working-class areas such as New Addington will have vocal representatives pushing against high local taxation and municipal spending. With Labour remaining the largest single group on the council by a margin of two seats, any attempt by the Conservative leadership to push forward with aggressive asset sales or further services consolidation will face fierce, organised resistance.