Labour is facing a battle to cling on to its London heartlands at the local elections amid the rise of the Green Party.
Among Londoners living in inner boroughs, where sky high housing costs and substandard conditions dominate voter concerns, Zack Polanski’s party is making significant headway.
Labour has dominated the area for many years, running all but two of the 12 inner London town halls.
But recent polls suggest the party is set to lose a raft of the 21 councils it currently controls in the capital on May 7.
Its top vote share position in up to 14 of its local authorities will be decimated, one shock YouGov survey predicted.
One Labour candidate described the situation to the Standard simply as “bleak”.
“The PM’s an Arsenal fan but his party is Spurs. No confidence, on the cusp of relegation and everyone is hoping we lose. It's bleak.
The Greens are expected to be the major beneficiary of Labour’s plummeting popularity.
Labour insiders believe at least four councils could fall to Mr Polanski’s party for the first time.
The inner boroughs of Hackney, Lambeth and Lewisham as well as Waltham Forest in east London - areas have long been seen as bastions of Labour support.
Insiders also have growing concerns about Sir Keir’s home borough of Camden as well as Greenwich and Southwark.
The Prime Minister has kept away from campaigning in the capital, even in his own backyard, amid fears he has a toxic image among voters.
“No one knows what Starmer stands for,” one senior London Labour figure said.
“We campaigned on a ticket of ‘change’. But voters feel very little has changed, it’s got worse if anything. It’s not all the government’s fault, but people are looking for someone to blame.”
Labour has focused much of its campaigning against the Greens on antisemitism, as a number of candidates in the capital have been suspended and even arrested over alleged anti-Jewish posts on social media.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed accused Mr Polanski of failing to do enough to tackle antisemitism within its ranks.
But Mr Polanski has rejected the claim and branded Mr Reed as “desperate” in launching his criticism.
Sir Sadiq Khan, who has comfortably won three elections in a row to run City Hall, has admitted the polls “scare” him.
The Labour Mayor of London acknowledged that when he is knocking on doors “people aren't unhappy with me, they are concerned about the government and they want to take it out on councils”.
He has made a heartfelt plea to voters not to take their frustrations out on their local authorities, telling the Standard: “What I would say respectfully to Standard readers is don’t use May 7 as a referenda on how perfect or imperfect the Labour government is, and I appreciate in two years they have not done all you wanted them to do.”
He pointed to changes that the government has put in place since the general election which have a direct impact on Londoners.
“But remember what the Labour government has done,” he said.
“If you are a renter you have rights you never had before, if you’re a worker you have rights you never had before, if you are a parent you have free childcare you have never had before.”
Meanwhile in Wandsworth and Westminster, the two flagship councils Labour wrestled from Tory control in 2022, there are fears swathes of left wing voters switching to the Greens could see the Conservatives come up through the middle to control the boroughs again.
Labour has lost a string of by-elections in Westminster since the general election and Sir Sadiq’s plan to push ahead with Oxford Street pedestrianise
In a letter to constituents, council leader Adam Hug this week said: “We’ve done a lot over the last four years on social and affordable housing, community investment, environmental action, strengthening council services and so much more, but there’s a lot still to do in the years ahead to build a better and fairer Westminster.
“All the polls are saying this election is going to be really close to call between Labour and the Conservatives, with the Britain Votes Now projection site suggesting that the election is a dead heat.”
Labour also faces threat from independent candidates in east London, where pro-Palestine candidates are hoping to capitalise on voter anger at the way the government has handled the crisis in the Middle East.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has backed independent candidates across the city, including in Tower Hamlets where the Aspire party won control of the town hall in 2022.
The Newham Independents and the Redbridge Independents hope they can replicate the success of the controversial party led by Lutfur Rahman.
Mr Corbyn said independent candidates in these boroughs, where there are high populations of Muslim voters, “will be standing fearlessly against this government’s shameful complicity in genocide”.
The mainstream parties argue that councillors, whose focus should be on bin collections, parking and local planning, can have little impact on Middle East politics.
