London Liberal Democrats

Members of Parliament

The London Liberal Democrats won 6 of 75 London seats in the House of Commons at the 2024 United Kingdom general election. The table below shows the party's current Members of Parliament (MPs).^[12]

London Assembly members

The London Liberal Democrats won 2 of 25 seats in the London Assembly at the 2024 London Assembly election. The table below shows the party's current Assembly Members (AMs).^[12]

Councillors

The London Liberal Democrats won 180 of 1,817 borough seats and majority control of 3 of 32 boroughs at the 2022 London local elections. The party currently has 182 councillors and controls 3 boroughs, as shown in the table below.^[12][13]

UK general elections

The table below shows the London Liberal Democrats results at United Kingdom (UK) general elections since the London Government Act 1963 created the administrative area of Greater London in 1965. Results between 1966 and 1979 are for the Liberal Party, while results between 1983 and 1987 are for the SDP–Liberal Alliance.^{[14] [15] [16]} All UK general elections use first-past-the-post voting.

The party's best result was at the 2005 general election, when it won 8 of 74 seats in London. The London Liberal Democrats won 6 of 75 seats at the most recent general election in 2024.

More information Election, Leader ...

Election	Leader	Votes			Seats		Status
		No.	%	±	No.	±
1966	Jo Grimond	356,925	9.3	3.1	1 / 102		Opposition
1970	Jeremy Thorpe	246,060	6.9	2.4	0 / 102	1	Opposition
Feb-1974		814,239	20.8	13.8	0 / 92		Opposition
Oct-1974		594,699	17.0	3.8	0 / 92		Opposition
1979	David Steel	437,521	11.9	5.1	0 / 92		Opposition
1983	Roy Jenkins and David Steel	853,360	24.7	12.8	2 / 84	2	Opposition
1987	David Owen and David Steel	770,117	21.3	3.4	3 / 84	1	Opposition
1992	Paddy Ashdown	542,733	15.1	6.2	1 / 84	2	Opposition
1997		486,013	14.6	0.5	6 / 74	5	Opposition
2001	Charles Kennedy	482,888	17.5	2.9	6 / 74		Opposition
2005		638,333	21.9	4.4	8 / 74	2	Opposition
2010	Nick Clegg	751,561	22.1	0.2	7 / 73	1	Cons–LD
2015		272,544	7.7	14.4	1 / 73	6	Opposition
2017	Tim Farron	336,725	8.8	1.1	3 / 73	2	Opposition
2019	Jo Swinson	562,564	14.9	6.1	3 / 73		Opposition
2024	Ed Davey	367,424	11.0	3.9	6 / 75	3	Opposition

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European Parliament elections

During the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union (1973–2020), Greater London participated in European Parliament elections, held every five years from 1979 until 2019.^[17] The table below shows London Liberal Democrat results in elections to the European Parliament. Results in 1979 are for the Liberal Party, while results in 1984 are for the SDP–Liberal Alliance. From 1979 to 1994, London members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected from ten individual constituencies by first-past-the-post voting; from 1999 to 2019, MEPs were elected from a London-wide regional list by proportional representation. The party's best result was at the final election in 2019, when it won 3 of 8 seats in London.

More information Election, Leader ...

Election	Leader	Votes			Seats		Pos.
		No.	%	±	No.	±
1979	David Steel	175,945	11.4	N/A	0 / 10	N/A	3rd
1984	David Owen and David Steel	302,427	18.1	6.7	0 / 10		3rd
1989	Paddy Ashdown	98,255	5.3	12.9	0 / 10		4th
1994		199,017	12.1	6.9	0 / 10		3rd
1999		133,058	11.7	0.5	1 / 10	1	3rd
2004	Charles Kennedy	288,790	15.3	3.6	1 / 9		3rd
2009	Nick Clegg	240,156	13.7	1.6	1 / 8		3rd
2014		148,013	6.7	7.0	0 / 8	1	5th
2019	Vince Cable	608,725	27.2	20.5	3 / 8	3	1st

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Regional elections

Greater London Council elections

The table below shows the results obtained by the London Liberal Party in elections to the Greater London Council (GLC). The GLC was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs and other entities. All GLC elections were conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system. The party's best result was at the 1973 GLC election, when it won 2 of 92 seats.

More information Election, Leader ...

Election	Leader	Votes			Seats		Status
		No.	%	±	No.	±
1964		238,967	10.0	N/A	0 / 100	N/A	No seats
1967		189,868	8.8	1.2	0 / 100		No seats
1970		103,838	5.4	3.4	0 / 100		No seats
1973	Stanley Rundle	244,703	12.5	7.1	2 / 92	2	Opposition
1977		174,405	7.8	4.7	0 / 92	2	No seats
1981	Adrian Slade	323,856	14.4	6.6	1 / 92	1	Opposition

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London Assembly elections

The table below shows the London Liberal Democrats results at London Assembly elections since the Greater London Authority was established in 2000. Assembly elections use the additional member system, a form of mixed member proportional representation, with 14 directly elected constituencies and 11 London-wide top-up seats.

The party's best result was at the 2004 London Assembly election, when it won 5 of 25 seats. The London Liberal Democrats won 2 of 25 seats at the most recent London Assembly election in 2024, including the first constituency seat ever won by a party other than Labour or the Conservatives (South West).

More information Election, Leader ...

Election	Leader	Constituency			Party			Total Seats	±
		No.	%	Seats	No.	%	Seats
2000	Graham Tope	299,998	18.9	0 / 14	245,555	14.8	4 / 11	4 / 25	N/A
2004		332,237	18.4	0 / 14	316,218	16.9	5 / 11	5 / 25	1
2008	Mike Tuffrey	330,018	13.7	0 / 14	252,556	11.2	3 / 11	3 / 25	2
2012	Caroline Pidgeon	193,842	8.8	0 / 14	150,447	6.8	2 / 11	2 / 25	1
2016		195,820	7.5	0 / 14	165,580	6.3	1 / 11	1 / 25	1
2021		266,595	10.3	0 / 14	189,522	7.3	2 / 11	2 / 25	1
2024	Hina Bokhari	271,049	11.0	1 / 14	215,682	8.7	1 / 11	2 / 25

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London Mayoral elections

The table below shows the London Liberal Democrats results in London Mayoral elections since the Greater London Authority was established in 2000. Elections between 2000 and 2021 were conducted using the supplementary vote system, which allowed voters to transfer votes from first to second preference candidates. The 2024 election used the first-past-the-post system.^[18]

The London Liberal Democrats have never won a London mayoral election. The party's best result was at the 2004 London mayoral election, when it won 15.3% of the first preference vote. The party won 5.8% of the vote at the most recent election in 2024.

More information Election, Candidate ...

Election	Candidate	1st Round			2nd Round			Result
		No.	%	±	No.	%	±
2000	Susan Kramer	203,452	11.9	N/A	Eliminated			Lost
2004	Simon Hughes	284,647	15.3	3.5	Eliminated			Lost
2008	Brian Paddick	235,585	9.8	5.6	Eliminated			Lost
2012		91,774	4.2	5.6	Eliminated			Lost
2016	Caroline Pidgeon	120,005	4.6	0.4	Eliminated			Lost
2021	Luisa Porritt	111,716	4.4	0.2	Eliminated			Lost
2024	Rob Blackie	145,184	5.8	1.4				Lost

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Local elections

The table below shows the London Liberal Democrats results at London borough council elections since the London Government Act 1963 created the administrative area of Greater London in 1965. Results between 1964 and 1978 are for the Liberal Party, while results between 1982 and 1986 are for the SDP–Liberal Alliance.^[19] All borough council elections use the first-past-the-post voting system.

The party's best result was at the 2006 London local elections when it won 316 of 1,861 seats and control of 3 of 32 boroughs. The London Liberal Democrats won 180 seats and control of 3 boroughs at the most recent elections in 2022.

More information Election, Leader ...

Election	Leader	Votes			Councillors		Councils
		No.	%	±	Seats	±	Majorities	±
1964	Jo Grimond			N/A	16 / 1,859	N/A	0 / 32	N/A
1968	Jeremy Thorpe	387,181	7.3		10 / 1,863	6	0 / 32
1971		253,255	4.2	3.0	9 / 1,863	1	0 / 32
1974		244,725	13.1	8.9	27 / 1,867	18	0 / 32
1978	David Steel	150,298	7.1	6.0	30 / 1,908	3	0 / 32
1982	Collective SDP Leadership and David Steel	530,340	24.6	17.5	124 / 1,914	94	0 / 32
1986	David Owen and David Steel	539,848	24.0	0.6	249 / 1,914	125	3 / 32	3
1990	Paddy Ashdown	344,125	14.2	9.8	229 / 1,914	20	3 / 32
1994		490,259	22.0	7.8	323 / 1,917	94	3 / 32
1998		362,913	20.8	1.2	301 / 1,917	22	2 / 32	1
2002	Charles Kennedy	353,833	20.6	0.2	307 / 1,861	6	3 / 32	1
2006	Menzies Campbell	443,772	20.7	0.1	316 / 1,861	9	3 / 32
2010	Nick Clegg	835,217	22.4	1.7	246 / 1,861	70	2 / 32	1
2014		267,769	10.6	11.8	116 / 1,861	130	1 / 32	1
2018	Vince Cable	323,074	13.0	2.5	152 / 1,861	36	3 / 32	2
2022	Ed Davey	335,415	13.7	0.7	180 / 1,817	28	3 / 32

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The table below shows the London Liberal Democrats' best election results for each London borough council, as well as the party's current seat totals.^[20]