Lewisham mayor Liam Shrivastava challenged his party to deliver for the borough, after they stormed the local elections, taking control over the council where Labour won every seat in 2022.
The Greens followed Shrivastava’s mayoral victory yesterday by winning 39 seats to Labour’s 14, building on wins in Hackney and Waltham Forest, as Zack Polanski’s party celebrated major gains in the capital.
Excitement was already running high among Green candidates throughout the day after Shrivastava defeated the Labour opposition by nearly 5000 votes.
And as the sizeable margin of their victory was confirmed in the borough’s councillor elections today, the new mayor issued a rallying cry to his new council.
He said: “The people of Lewisham have spoken decisively and they have told us they want change. They want hope and a different way of doing things and we must not let them down. We must deliver for the people of Lewisham.”
Newly elected Green councillor for Ladywell, Shireen Asaw, said: “I’m in shock. I think I’m actually still processing everything.
“All we want is what’s best for Lewisham. I’m born and raised here like many of the candidates are and we all just want what’s best for the area.”
Shrivastava – a former Labour councillor who defected to the Greens in June 2025 – was also elected in the ward of Crofton Park, but his mayoral victory means the seat is currently vacant and will immediately be up for re-election.
Andre Bourne, who has been a Labour councillor in Downham for 12 years, described his re-election as ‘bittersweet’ after many of his Labour colleagues lost their seats.
He said: “This has been by far the hardest campaign for the Labour Party because we’ve just had knock back after knock back on the doorsteps in regard to the national image, in regard to the leadership, and that’s just trickled down into the ward.
“The national image would just get brought up over and over and over again, and every single time we would try and bring it back to local issues, residents would just continue to focus on the national party. We knew we were up for a massive challenge.”
Yet the Greens campaigned heavily on Lewisham’s doorsteps in the build-up to the election, with candidates highlighting that local housing issues frequently emerged as source of disapproval towards the previous Labour Council.
Newly elected Green councillor for New Cross Gate, Ruth Persian, said: “We’ve really tried to listen to what people wanted and what people are looking for from new councillors and Green councillors.
“We’ve been able to build our campaign around that and mobilise a lot of people who wanted to see change and wanted to see hope in the borough to come out and vote for us on Thursday.”
Remaining Labour councillors said they would be happy to support the new council with projects that will benefit the Lewisham’s residents as they hope to rebuild support in the borough.
Labour councillor Gavin Moore said: “The Labour party in Lewisham has always sought to represent, build, and work in the interests of the people of Lewisham. We will continue to do that.
“Where the Green administration wants to deliver for the people of Lewisham, we will support and work with you, and we will be constructive. Where we have advice, we will give it freely.”
But for now, Green’s newest councillors – as well as leader Zack Polanksi – will be celebrating as they take over a council that Labour has only lost control of once since 1964.
You can read all of South East Londoner’s local election coverage here.
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