Zoë Garbett has been elected mayor of Hackney in London, giving the Green Party its first-ever elected mayoralty.
She told reporters on Friday she was “related” and promised it was just the beginning, after the Green party won with 35,720 votes to Labour’s 26,865.
The position had previously always been held by Labour.
But who is Zoë Garbett, and how did she become mayor? ITV News explains.
What is Zoë Garbett’s background?
Zoë Garbett was born in Somerset and was one of four children to teacher parents.
Garbett attended her first protest when her mother went to Hinkley nuclear power station to demonstrate against its expansion while she was pregnant with her, according to reporting by Novara Media.
She was regularly taken to protests growing up and was a Scout until her late teens.
Garbett studied at universities in Cardiff and Bristol before moving to London, where she worked for the NHS for over a decade, according to her political campaign website.
It says she has “dedicated her career to tackling health inequalities head-on”.
She left her NHS position in 2024 after she was elected to the London Assembly.
“I didn’t set out to be a politician. I’ve ended up here because I think it’s where I can make the most difference,” she told Hackney Citizen in April 2024.
How long has she been in politics?
Garbett first became involved in politics in Dalston including a campaign to prevent the closure of local market street Ridley Road, as the chair of a tenants and residents’ association, and volunteering with a local bike repair shop.
She then became a councillor for Dalston in Hackney in 2022, with the highest number of votes of any Green Party councillor in London.
This was her third attempt to become Mayor of Hackney, having been beaten to the position by Labour in 2022 and 2023.
Garbett then ran for London Mayor on behalf of the Green Party in 2024 but came fourth, with Sadiq Khan winning a historic third time.
Who is her deputy?
As part of her campaign, Garbett said that Dylan Law, who ran to be a councillor in Hackney Downs, would be appointed as her deputy.
He was elected on 2,499 votes, along with fellow Greens Alastair Binnie-Lubbock and Michael Gribben.
He is 20 years old, but has “already packed in years of experience”, according to Garbett’s campaign website.
Law has served on Hackney Youth Parliament, volunteered with local charities, and launched his own small business.
“He and his family have faced the sharp end of failing council systems. That lived reality shapes his mission: to make sure no one else is left to fall through the same cracks,” the website says.
“He knows first-hand how badly council services can fail families, and it’s this experience that drives him. From housing issues to school exclusions, Dylan has seen the gaps in the system and is determined to fix them.”
What are Garbett’s priorities?
Garbett is considered to be more left-wing within the Green Party, and helped to found Greens Organise, which “seek[s] to build the left within the party” by providing political education, broadening political strategy and increasing democratic participation and activism by Green members.
She says she uses her personal experiences in her activism, writing in an interview with Bright Green in 2023: “Identifying as queer, I’ve worked to protect safe spaces for LGBTIQA+ communities and to ensure that LGBTIQA+ people see themselves reflected in local NHS campaigns.”
When she was announced as the Green Party candidate for the 2024 London mayoral election, which she lost to Sadiq Khan, she said she would abolish fare zones on the London Underground, Overground and DLR, and instead implement a flat fee for travel.
She also campaigned on rent controls and reducing rent costs.
In Garbett’s manifesto for Hackney Mayor in 2026, she set out her key principles as: democracy and political engagement, ethical use of council money, anti-austerity, workers first, anti-fascist, celebrating diversity and climate and environmental justice.
In her celebration speech on Friday, the new mayor said she was “going to change the system”.
“Hackney voters have said loud and clear that they are sick of politicians putting profit before our planet and for supporting genocide and letting down so many people who are struggling…
“Hackney has a history of solidarity between the beautiful mixes of people and communities, making Hackney our home here.
“People’s worries about immigration. Worries about their neighbours being exploited and mistreated. But Hackney deserves better. I don’t want to tweak around the edges… That’s why you’ve elected me to lead the fight back here in Hackney.”
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