The Liberal Democrats have easily retained control of Kingston upon Thames Council in a victory which has seen them keep or win all 27 seats declared so far – with 21 to go.

Kingston has been a Lib Dem stronghold since the party seized control from the Tories in 2018.

The borough is home to MP and party leader Ed Davey. Despite the borough’s sky-high council tax emerging as a key issue threatening the party this year, the Lib Dems have secured a comfortable victory.

The former Tory mayor Councillor Roy Arora even failed to defend his seat in Coombe Vale – now represented by three Lib Dems.

Before today, Kingston had 37 Lib Dem councillors, eight Tories and two independents.

Council tax led the way as the key concern for Londoners ahead of the election, according to survey data published by Centre for London.

But Lib Dem candidates said the cost of living crisis was frequently raised by locals on the doorstep, who “feel let down and taken for granted” by Boris Johnson’s party.

Infighting elsewhere within the council also appeared troublesome for the Lib Dems. Councillor Sharron Falchikov-Sumner defected to the Greens before resigning from the council in January this year.

Councillor Liz Green was also ousted by the Lib Dems in March 2020 at a key moment in the Covid pandemic – after having led the party locally for seven years.

She won back her seat this time in the St Mark’s and Seething Wells ward.

She was replaced by Caroline Kerr, who resigned in October 2021.

Councillor Andreas Kirsch has led the council since and won 1,825 votes in his ward – placed second to Councillor Patricia Bamford, at 1,937 votes.

The controversial proposed redevelopment of the Kingfisher leisure centre also proved a hot topic for locals leading into the election, after the Lib Dem council voted to knock it down in September 2021.

Councillors later voted against a petition signed by 3,869 residents to stop the demolition of the centre.

The issue led to Lib Dem councillor Jon Tolley, who represented the ward, resigning from the party last year.

Other important and controversial local issues included new tower blocks being built across the borough and the future of the historic Kingston Guildhall – both seized upon in the Tories’ manifesto.

The party pledged to “stop the towers”, open a temporary pool in the borough after the Kingfisher’s closure and freeze council tax.

The Lib Dems have promised to build a new state-of-the-art leisure centre to replace the Kingfisher by late 2024, along with building more affordable homes, investing in youth services and creating more school places.

The same number of Lib Dem, Tory and Labour candidates – 48 – battled it out in the elections alongside the Greens.

Several candidates from the Kingston Independent Residents Group and Official Monster Raving Loony Party also stood for seats in some of the wards, along with two Independents, one Women’s Equality Party candidate and one member of the Liberal Party.

Boundary changes mean the number of wards in the borough has increased from 16 to 19, but the number of councillors has remained the same at 48.