Local elections were held in London on 1 November 1945.
Electoral arrangements The County of London, outside of the City of London, was divided into 28 metropolitan boroughs. Each borough was divided into a number of multi-member electoral wards.
The previous election was in 1937. In the normal three-yearly cycle, elections should have taken place in 1940, 1943 and 1946. However, due to the Second World War, and the provisions of the Local Elections and Register of Electors (Temporary Provisions) Acts 1939–1944 and the Representation of the People Act 1945, the terms of those elected in 1937 were extended to 1945.
Councillors were elected for a three-year term, to go out of office in November 1948. However, the normal month of the 1948 and future borough council elections was changed to the following May by the Representation of the People Act 1948. Councillors elected in November 1945 had their terms extended to go out of office in May 1949.
The franchise was extended by the Representation of the People Act 1945 for this and future local elections to be on the same basis as Parliamentary elections.
Results The Conservative-aligned Municipal Reform Party lost control of six councils to the Labour Party.
The results for each borough were as follows:
Borough Previous control New control Labour Municipal Reform Communist Others Total Details Battersea 49 6 55 Bermondsey 51 3 54 Details Bethnal Green 30 30 Camberwell 51 9 60 Chelsea 9 27 36 Deptford 34 2 36 Finsbury 47 1 8 56 Fulham 34 6 40 Greenwich 23 7 30 Hackney 47 1 48 Hammersmith 36 36 Hampstead 14 28 42 Holborn 24 18 42 Islington 60 60 Kensington 18 42 60 Lambeth 57 3 60 Lewisham 43 10 53 Paddington 34 26 60 Poplar 42 42 Shoreditch 42 42 Southwark 60 60 Details Stepney 49 10 1 60 St Marylebone 9 51 60 Stoke Newington 30 30 St Pancras 54 6 60 Wandsworth 43 17 60 Westminster 5 52 3 60 Woolwich 43 2 45 Total 1,038 315 15 10 1,377
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