Overnight election results in London were very good for Labour, though rather less so in other parts of the country. Winning Wandsworth for the first time since 1978 was the beginning of the party’s success in the capital. Despite the Conservatives’ low council tax policy, eight seats switched to Labour.
Barnet fell later in the night, also showing a straight switch of votes from the Conservatives to Labour. The north London borough is important to Keir Starmer, who celebrated there this morning, because his predecessor had clearly alienated many of the borough’s Jewish voters.
Then came Westminster, which was seen by most commentators as impossible for Labour to win. Yet, for the first time ever Labour has won the borough in which Parliament and Whitehall are located. There is epic symbolism in this. The State Opening of Parliament will next week take place in a Labour-held authority.
There were also gains (generally from the Conservatives) for Labour in Redbridge (+6), Hillingdon (+4), Waltham Forest (+2), Ealing (+1) and Bexley (+1). The Liberal Democrats took nine Tory seats in Richmond. The Greens, who also gained a seat, will now be the opposition there.
The Conservatives won eight seats from Labour in Enfield. Overnight they had hopes of taking the new mayoralty in Croydon and, possibly, more seats in Harrow. But, overall, the elections in London have proved bad for the party. The Tories are likely to have their smallest number of councillors in London since the first borough elections in 1964. Labour may have their largest total since 1971. The Liberal Democrats appear to be expanding across the south west of the city.
Outside London, the picture was less rosy for Labour. The Conservatives made gains in places including Nuneaton, Amber Valley and Hartlepool, making it hard for Labour to claim they are storming their way back into ‘Red Wall’ areas. The party’s national vote share is likely to be little changed from 2018 when these seats were last fought. Indeed, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Independents may be the biggest winners when all the votes have been counted. Conservatives in London cannot go on like this. Until 1997 they were fully competitive across the capital: London was not a ‘Labour city’. The party almost certainly needs to create a separate London party and identity in the way the Scots have. Further decline would be bad for them and for democracy.
