Lambeth set for two council by-elections in July as candidates revealed

Clapham Park and Streatham St Leonard’s will both host by-elections in early July, writes Alex Orr…

Residents in the two wards will head to the polls on Thursday 9th July to select new councillors, after last month’s winning candidates, who both appeared on the ballot for the Greens, did not take up their seats.

Saiqa Ali declined to take up her role as councillor for Streatham St Leonard’s after being suspended by her former party, the Greens, before the elections on 7th May.

On 28th April, less than two weeks before polling day, Lambeth Green Party suspended Ali, citing an article in the media which referenced her historic social media posts.

The statement said: “The quoted social media posts do not reflect the Green Party’s values and we condemn them fully. Saiqa Ali has been suspended pending investigation.”

Electoral law requirements meant Ali still appeared as a Green candidate on the ballot paper, but the Lambeth Greens said she would either have to sit as an independent councillor or join a different group if she took up her seat.

Streatham St Leonards was a Green Party stronghold on 7th May, with the three winning candidates, including Ali, receiving more than double the votes of the Labour Party’s candidates who finished fourth, fifth and sixth.

On 9th July, voters in the ward will select one councillor from the six following candidates (in alphabetical order): Jade Ellen Albas (Labour Party), Yemi Awolola (Christian Peoples Alliance), Chris Cousins (Conservative Party), Alex Davies (Liberal Democrats), Dario Goodwin (Green Party) and Mark McKee (Reform UK).

In Clapham Park, Councillor Joanna Eaves resigned due to ill health soon after becoming the ward’s first-ever Green councillor.

In a joint statement with the Lambeth Greens, Eaves said: “I was honoured to have been voted in as Clapham Park’s first Green councillor, but due to my ill health, I now won’t be able to do the job justice. As a result, I’ve taken the difficult decision to resign.”

The race in Clapham Park on the 7th May was a closer contest than in Streatham St Leonard’s, with two Labour councillors elected alongside Eaves for the Greens.

The Greens are currently the largest party on Lambeth Council with 27 councillors, one more than Labour, and were able to form a minority administration, led by new Leader of the Council Martin Abrams, with the support of the Liberal Democrats.

In Clapham Park on 9th July, residents will elect one of the following candidates (in alphabetical order): Ben Amos (Liberal Democrats), Michael Sherif Ball (Green Party), Joshua Jack Forrester (Conservative Party), Susanna Kehinde Jehwo (Christian Peoples Alliance), Anya Krycek (The Socialist Party (GB)), Martin Lester Read (Reform UK) and Louie Somerville-Sutherland (Labour Party).

The deadline to register to vote in the Clapham Park and Streatham St Leonard’s by-elections is Tuesday 23rd June at midnight.