Southwark is going to the polls on Thursday May 7, making it one of 136 local authorities across England holding elections, with around 5,000 council seats up for grabs, writes Pablo Munoz Lobato…
The borough is divided into 23 wards, six of them represented by two councillors and 17 by three, making 63 the total number of seats up for election—one for every 4,000 residents, approximately.
The voting system is First-Past-The-Post, which consists of residents voting once for every seat available in their ward so that the three (or two) candidates with the most votes are elected to the council.
For example, if your ward has three seats, you have three votes, which you can give to one party, or split them between different candidates. You can check how many councillors represent your ward here.
To be able to vote, you must first be sure that you have registered to vote, which you should do before the end of 20 April with your National Insurance number in under five minutes through the council’s website.
Once registered, you will be able to vote in person on May 7 after showing your voter ID, which can be a passport, driving license, a Blue Badge for parking, or even a travel pass for specific age groups, like an older person’s bus pass.
If you do not have any valid voter ID, which may happen to young voters or migrants, you can apply for a free “Voter Authority Certificate”, before the April 29 deadline at 5pm through this government website.
If you are not able to vote on May 7, you can apply to vote by mail or proxy.
Voting by mail allows you to cast your vote without the need for either you or anyone you know to head down to the polling station, whereas voting by proxy requires someone you trust to present your ballot at the polls for you.
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In regards to identification when voting through either of these systems, votes that are cast by mail will have to be authenticated with your signature and date of birth, which must match those on your voting by mail application. If you vote by proxy, the person you entrusted to vote for you must show their own valid photo ID to polling staff before they can put your ballot in the box.
If you wish to vote by mail, you must be sure that your vote reaches the polls before they close, so it is best to post a mail ballot a couple of days in advance.
You can apply for each of those methods before the deadline ends through the council’s website.
The last election, which took place in 2022, saw the Labour party win 52 of the 63 seats in Southwark, with the Lib Dems taking the remaining 11 seats.
During the legislature, in 2025, six Labour council members left the party. In February this year Cllr James McAsh was the fourth councillor to defected from Labour to the Greens in the wake of the crisis-ridden election saga last summer – which saw the local party churn through three leaders in the space of a single week.
