2008 London Assembly election

An election to the Assembly of London took place on 1 May 2008, along with the 2008 London mayoral election. The Conservatives gained 2 seats, Labour gained one seat, the Liberal Democrats lost two seats, and UKIP were wiped out. Notably, a candidate for the British National Party (BNP) was elected for the first time.

2008 London Assembly election
1 May 2008
25 London Assembly Seats
13 seats needed for majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Richard Barnes Len Duvall
Party Conservative Labour
Leader's seat Ealing and Hillingdon Greenwich and Lewisham
Last election 9 seats 7 seats
Seats won 11 8
Seat change 2 1
Constituency Vote 900,569 673,855
 % and swing 37.4% 6.2% 28.0% 3.3%
Regional Vote 835,535 665,443
 % and swing 34.1% 6.2% 27.1% 2.7%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Mike Tuffrey Jenny Jones
Party Liberal Democrats Green
Leader's seat Londonwide Londonwide
Last election 5 seats 2 seats
Seats won 3 2
Seat change 2
Constituency Vote 330,018 194,059
 % and swing 13.7% 4.7% 8.1% 0.4%
Regional Vote 252,556 203,465
 % and swing 11.2% 5.3% 8.3% 0.3%
  Fifth party
 
Leader Richard Barnbrook
Party BNP
Leader's seat Londonwide
Last election 0 seats
Seats won 1
Seat change 1
Constituency Vote 18,020
 % and swing 0.7% 0.7%
Regional Vote 130,714
 % and swing 5.3% 0.6%
The left side shows constituency winners of the election by their party colours. The right side shows regional winners of the election for the additional members by their party colours.

The Assembly is elected by the Additional Member System. Fourteen directly elected constituencies exist, all of which have, to date, only ever been won by the Conservative Party or the Labour Party. An additional eleven members are allocated by a London wide top-up vote with the proviso that parties must win at least five percent of the vote to qualify for the list seats. Prior to these elections, these seats were held by five Liberal Democrats, two Labour Party members, two Green Party members and two One Londoners.

The two One London members were elected as candidates for the UK Independence Party, but then joined or supported the breakaway Veritas party and subsequently left Veritas to form One London. Compared to the previous election, two separate factions of RESPECT Unity Coalition stood in 2008: Respect (George Galloway), who supported Ken Livingstone in the mayoral election, and Left List, who supported Lindsey German (RESPECT's mayoral candidate in 2004).

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