Most of East London went along with the national trend against Alternative Voting in Thursday’s referendum on Parliamentary elections, with the stark exemption of one borough which returned Britain’s biggest ‘yes’ vote majority.

The others stayed well within the ‘no’ camp. Tower Hamlets rejected AV by almost 24,000 against fewer than 20,300, with a turn-out of nearly 29 per cent. Neighbouring Newham had a clear 27,000 ‘no’ votes to 21,000 ’yes’.

Redbridge threw it out two-two-one, with almost 47,000 against fewer than 21,000, while Havering knocked it on the head by nearly three-to-one, almost 50,000 against well under 15,000.

Hackney, by contrast, went all out for a ‘yes’ vote with a two-to-one majority—the largest pro-change vote in the country—where almost 31,000 wanted AV to 20,000 rejecting it.

Five other London boroughs appeared to follow Hackney’s lead, although with much smaller majorities—Southwark, Lambeth, Islington, Camden and Haringey.

But they made no dent in the London-wide picture with almost 1,124,000 rejecting AV and just under 735,000 in favour.

The number of ballot papers counted across London was 1,862,468, including 4,561 spoilt votes.