Zoë Garbett

Zoë Garbett won the Hackney mayoralty on 7 May 2026, becoming the first Green Party elected mayor of any London borough. She defeated outgoing Labour Co-op mayor Caroline Woodley, and simultaneously the Hackney council seat tally swung from Labour 44 / Greens 6 to Greens 38 / Labour 6 — one of the most dramatic single-night council reversals in the London Green surge.

Garbett previously stood as the Green Party's Greater London Assembly candidate for the Hackney constituency and has been a consistent Green voice on housing affordability, air quality, and the transition away from car-dependency in inner London. She has worked in the voluntary and community sector and built her profile through local campaign networks rather than through a national party career ladder.

Her election alongside Liam Shrivastava's win in Lewisham marks the end of Labour's uncontested dominance over inner London borough politics. For the national Green Party the twin mayoralties are a structural milestone: they provide funded mayoral offices, a media platform, and a test bed for Green local governance that the party can point to ahead of future assembly and parliamentary elections. How Garbett handles the immediate pressure of the Hackney mayoralty — housing supply, cost-of-living services, policing — will be watched closely across London.