Labour holds Council seat in Junction Ward by-election

Labour has won another Council by-election with James Potts becoming the new Councillor for Junction Ward in north Islington. Cally Councillor and Leader of the Council, Una O’Halloran welcomed James to the Town Hall after the votes were counted and his by-election victory was officially announced.

There were 7 candidates standing in the by-election which was triggered after the former Leader Kaya Comer-Schwartz stepped down to become the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime at City Hall.

Despite a relatively low turnout, Labour’s candidate won by 235 votes – achieving a 12 pt vote share lead over the next placed (independent) candidate. The Green Party came third, the Lib Dems 4th and a rather hapless Tory candidate trailed-in 5th place with just 6% of the vote.

Cllr Una O’Halloran said at the declaration: “I’m so excited that James has won. He was an excellent candidate and will be a diligent and hard working Councillor. He campaigned really hard to become elected and he’ll do well on the Council. The result was a great signal for the future. Labour is on your side, Junction voters have put their trust in us, and I hope all Islington voters will do so in May 2026.”

Ahead of polling day, the second-placed candidate had predicted a win after being endorsed by Islington North’s independent MP, Jeremy Corbyn. However it was clear that many of Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters were unhappy with his nascent political party and its candidate running against Islington Labour. Many have asked Jeremy and his associates “exactly what is Islington Council doing that you disagree with?”. One was quoted saying “of course Jeremy has a beef with Labour nationally but that doesn’t mean he should run candidates against our Labour Council”.