Green Party candidate Liam Shrivastava has won the mayoral election in Lewisham – a huge blow to Labour after he defected from the party last year.
Mayor Shrivastava won 35,265 votes, a share of 40.4%, and becomes the second ever Green Mayor, and the second elected today, following the party’s victory in Hackney earlier in the day.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski arrived in Lewisham to celebrate the success amid historic wins for the Green Party elsewhere in London.
Shrivastava said: “We weren’t necessarily expecting that we would win this, but we’ve seen from the end of last year to the beginning of this year so much momentum, so much energy, so much enthusiasm for something different in Lewisham.
“This isn’t just my victory, this is the victory of so many volunteers, so many hard working people who have made this happen.”
All eyes now turn to the council election results tomorrow, where there is a real possibility Labour will lose control of the council despite winning all 54 seats in 2022, reflecting today’s nationwide result.
Shrivastava said: “The margin of victory would indicate that we will be seeing a Green majority on the council and that’s going to be really important for us so that we can get our programme through.”
This is the first time that the mayor in Lewisham will not be from the Labour Party.
The party’s candidate, Amanda De Ryk, received 30,374 votes, a 34.8% share.
Upon his arrival to congratulate the Lewisham Greens, Polanski said: “I know that Liam will be mayor, but actually everyone across Lewisham will have similar powers and similar voices to they mayor, because Liam will keep listening to those voices.”
Reform UK outperformed both the Lib Dem and Conservative candidates taking 8.4% of the vote compared to 7.3% and 5.3% respectively.
Independent candidate and former Apprentice star Kayode Damali said: “I thought it went great, I got 2,185 votes so I can’t complain, I’m happy for Liam.
“This process taught me more than I could ever put into a quick interview.
“I think the Greens are going to take way more seats tomorrow, I think it’s going to be tough between the Greens and Labour.”
The election saw a 42.14% turn out, a big increase on the 34.1% who voted 4 years ago.
You can check out all of South East Londoner’s 2026 local election here.
Photo credit Alex Heath
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