Whetstone residents have backed Labour’s responsible and caring council administration in a substantial by-election victory for the party.
Labour won a stunning victory in the then new ward of Whetstone in 2022 local elections. Most of the ward had never previously returned a Labour councillor when it was represented under different boundaries.
In a by-election on 15th May 2025, Whetstone voters repeated that outstanding result, rejecting any return to the years of Conservative recklessness and decay.
Labour candidate Ezra Cohen won 965 votes and a 147-vote majority over the Conservatives. Newly-elected Councillor Cohen is a 30-year-old father of three who has a career in legal services and was born in the borough.
The Labour administration inherited a Council in May 2022 where the CCTV was broken more than half the time, and the council had given up on some green spaces.
Worse still, financial control at the town hall was slack. The outgoing Conservatives did not even know how many employees worked at the council.
Labour has governed the council responsibly, making difficult decisions when they have to be made. But Labour has also fixed the CCTV, driven down anti-social behaviour, and brought previously abandoned green spaces back into use. £97 million is going into fixing the roads and pavements all while council tax remains lower than any neighbouring borough.
Cllr Ezra Cohen said: “I want to thank all the residents who put their confidence in me, and all of the volunteers who supported me through the campaign. I am so excited to join the Labour administration’s work in transforming Barnet into a well-run council that prioritises residents’ safety and the state of the borough. I will work for all residents, whether they voted for me or not.”
Barnet’s Labour Leader, Councillor Barry Rawlings, said: “Barnet residents are backing Labour’s responsible running of the council, unlike the reckless Conservatives. We have made difficult decisions and will have to make more. But voters can see a borough where the CCTV works and the roads are being fixed. I am grateful to for Barnet residents’ continued support.”
