Labour has retained all three seats in Colindale, securing the party's largest ever number of councillors in the borough.

Longstanding councillors Gill Sargeant and Zakia Zubairi were re-elected alongside first-time councillor Nagus Narenthira. The three celebrated their victory as the results were announced at Hendon Town Hall this evening.

Labour's success came as no surprise to most, considering the party has held all three seats in the ward since 1968.

Despite the rest of Barnet's councillors being voted in last month, the Colindale election was postponed owing to the death of Green Party candidate Jessica Yorke, who died just a few days before the May 22 election.

The party narrowly missed out on securing a majority in last month's polls, with the Conservatives securing just two extra seats.

See how the evening progressed by reading our live blog from the count.

But following its success tonight, Labour has its largest number of members with 30 councillors - topping its current record of 26.

Leader of the Labour Group Councillor Alison Moore said: "It's  fantastic. We have had councillors in place here for several decades and it's a really emphatic victory.

"We now have the biggest Labour group we have ever had. We are within a hair's breadth of taking control of the council. 

"It shows people of Barnet are clearly dismissive of the Conservatives' offer, which is mass privatisation."

New Labour councillor Narenthira has been part of the Labour Party for 15 years and said she was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to represent Colindale.

She said: "It's one of the happiest moments of my life.

"I'm passionate about infrastructure in Colindale and having lived here for a long time, I'm looking forward to starting work here."

Cllr Zubairi added: "We're so proud and we can't wait to continue our good work in Colindale."

Cllr Sargeant agreed. She said: "The result shows we've got a real support in Colindale."

But Conservative council leader Cllr Richard Cornelius was nowhere to be seen as results were announced, having made an appearance for a brief ten minutes just after 10.30pm.

The Colindale election had a turnout of 27.8 per cent, meaning just 3,210 people voted.

Labour took a staggering 68 per cent of the votes, representing a ten per cent swing to the party.

Cllr Sargeant received 2,088 votes, Cllr Zubairi got 2,015 and Cllr Narenthira 2,290.

Barnet Borough Council is now made up of 32 Conservative councillors, Labour has 30, and the Liberal Democrats have just one.