Today is the day - 48 councillors are set to be voted onto Kingston Council and the Lib Dems could lose its two-term long run in the Guildhall.

We will be reporting live throughout the day!

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5.30pm

The Liberal Democrat's have won with 44 seats!

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5.15pm

The Conservatives won their first seats with Ian George and Rowena Bass regaining their seats in Coombe Hill.

4.57pm

The Lib Dem's have lost their winning streak as KIRG candidates James Giles and Yvonne Tracey have regained their seats in Green Lane and St James Ward with 1,043 and 1,001 votes.

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4.45pm

The Lib Dems have won 34 seats already!

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3pm

The Lib Dems have also won in Coombe Vale, New Malden Village, and Hook and Chessington North with Deputy Mayor Sue Ansari regaining her seat in Hook and Chessington North.

In New Malden Village, Mark Durrant and Lesley Heap regained their seats. Meanwhile, Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) came in close second in the ward.

The Monster Raving Loony Party candidate for that ward was happy too, getting 126 votes.

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2.30pm

Lib Dems have also won in Surbiton Hill, St Mark's and Seething Wells, Kingston Gate, and Tolworth.

However, despite the Lib Dem wins, Greens did well in St Mark's and Seething Wells, gaining 3,230 votes.

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2pm

And another win for the Lib Dems has been announced in Norbiton with Emily Davey regaining her seat. Also elected for Norbiton Ward are Olly Wehring and Sam Foulder Hughes.

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1.45pm

The results for Chessington South and Malden Rushett are in and former council leader Cllr Andreas Kirsch regained his seat, winning 1,641 votes (17%).

In fact, the Lib Dems have again won all three seats for this ward with Griseldis Kirsch winning 1,542 (16%) and Sharukh Mirza with 1,518 votes (16%).

However, Reform UK came in close second, being just 500 votes short of winning.

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1.30pm

Lib Dem Leader and current MP for Kingston and Surbiton has showed up to support his party and is delighted with their first win.

He told Nub News: "We are half way through the count here at Kingston, but it's looking fantastic for the liberal Democrats. You know, we won 44 out of 48, four years ago. So it was a massive majority to try to retain. Let's see what happens, but so far the signs are good."

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1pm

The first ward winners have been announced! The Lib Dems won all three seats in Kingston Town Ward.

Among the winning three were Roger Mark Hayes with 1,277 (14%) votes, Inez Nicola Nardelli with 1,184 (13%), and Saba Hamed with 1,175 (13%).

This means that the party has 40% of the votes already.

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11.15

No results yet, but all eyes are on current council leader Andreas Kirsch as he looks to be re-elected for the Chessington South and Malden Rushett ward.

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9.30am



Postal votes for Coombe Hill, Old Malden, Alexandra, Canbury Gardens, and Tudor are now being verified.

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9am

The count has officially started! But we are not expecting our first result for a couple of hours at least!

Candidates and party members are all in the count hall!

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6.15am

What is the political makeup going into today's count?

The Lib Dems have run the council for two terms since taking over from the Conservatives in 2018.

The Lib Dems, Labour, and Conservatives are each standing 48 candidates in the election, while The Green Party and Reform UK are each standing 42 candidates. Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) has put forward 36 candidates, while three candidates from The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and two Independent councillors are also standing.

This equates to 269 candidates all together!

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6am

Polls closed late last night (7 May), with councillors canvassing until late at night.

This morning will see the votes verified before they are counted for all 19 wards in the borough.

Don't forget - all 48 seats up for grabs, 24 is up for the magic number.

Labour, Conservatives, and the Lib Dems are all standing 48 candidates.

But will we see a party get over at that line?

The Richmond borough elections saw the Lib Dems win all 54 seats, will the party see a similar result here in Kingston?