LibDems win in Streatham as Greens retain Lambeth control

WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, on another bad night for Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North when he can be bothered)

“‘Burnham bounce’ in London could stop so many voters deserting Labour to the Greens and LibDems” chirped the London SubStandard today, the morning after Labour had lost two by-elections in Steve Reed’s fiefdom of Lambeth, to the Greens and the LibDems.

With the parliamentary Labour party’s nominations all in, Andy Burnham, this time last month the Mayor of Greater Manchester, is expected to become Prime Minister by the end of July.

Today’s virtual evening newspaper’s headline (was the story really by-lined to “Phil Space”?) was based on the results of an opinion poll. A day before, the SubStandard was reporting the results of another opinion poll, this one predicting large Labour losses in London to the Greens if a parliamentary election was to be held today.

In Croydon, according to that Electoral Calculus poll, Labour’s Natasha Irons would lose her Croydon East seat, though not to the Greens. The constituency which runs from Woodside and the Addiscombes down to New Addington would, according to the pollsters, be a Conservative gain.

What could not be immediately found on the Standard website was any reporting on some real-life voting on their patch, in Streatham St Leonards and Clapham Park wards in Lambeth.

There’s been a bit of an arm-wrestle going on at Brixton Town Hall since the May local elections, as the Greens inched into control over Labour, by 29-26 seats with the eight LibDem councillors holding the balance of power.

The difficulties in forming an administration were compounded by uncertainties over two immediate by-elections caused by the resignations of newly elected Green Party councillors Joanna Eaves and Saiqa Ali.

The council’s annual meeting, where all the plum jobs are handed out, was delayed while the Green and LibDem groups attempted to set up an old-fashioned committee system to run the council. When they were told by council bureaucrats that this was legally impossible, a minority Green Party cabinet was installed in June with Martin Abrams, the former Labour councillor, as the council’s first Green leader.

But Abrams and the Greens knew that their grasp on power was flimsy: if Labour gained both of the seats up for grabs yesterday, they would have taken over as the largest party on Lambeth Council. There was lots to play for.

Eaves, in the very marginal Clapham Park ward (Labour won two of its seats in May, Eaves the third, by just 37 votes), decided to stand down on health grounds within two weeks of being elected.

The Streatham by-election, in a ward in Steve Reed’s Streatham and Croydon North constituency, was a much more controversial re-run.

Green candidate Saiqa Ali had quickly been singled out by Labour for her social media posts, and at the end of April she was one of two Lambeth Green candidates who were arrested by the Met on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred. By this point it was too late for the Greens to take her off the ballot paper.

The Greens’ Scott Ainslie, Alice Weavers and Ali won all three seats in Streatham St Leonard’s with 47% of the vote, against 23% for Labour and 15% for the Liberal Democrats. Saiqa Ali was not admitted to the Green group on Lambeth council, and she quickly handed in her notice, triggering yesterday’s by-election.

The results announced at Brixton Town Hall last night saw Labour failing to win either of the crucial seats, finishing only third in St Leonard’s with just 15% of the vote. So another bad night for Steve Reed, and no real “Burnham bounce”, despite the Standard headlines.

The LibDems’ Alex Davies, who represented Streatham Wells ward from 2010 to 2014, returns to the council to represent another bit of Streatham, while charity worker Michael Ball held on for the Greens in Clapham by 43 votes.

It means that Lambeth Council now comprises 28 Greens, 26 Labour and 9 Liberal Democrats.

Green leader Abrams called the Clapham result “a clear mandate for change”, which might be a little over-stated. Abrams’ and the Greens’ press release made no mention of the lost seat in St Leonards.

“In Lambeth. we are the largest party in the borough, with Labour clearly now in second place after two decades in charge,” Abrams said.

“Lambeth residents are sick of a political elite that puts the interests of big business and developers ahead of the needs of the community.”

Greeting Davies on the steps of Brixton Town Hall as a new LibDem councilor, group leader Matthew Bryant said: “It strengthens our position, but mostly we’ve got a really good extra councillor – somebody with loads of experience who’ll be a real asset to our group.”

In Croydon, there has still been no outcome to a Green Party internal investigation into Mark Adderley, pictured right, who was elected to the council in May in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood ward while suspended by his party over allegations – mostly raised by the Labour Party – around his social media messaging. Adderley currently sits with the seven-strong Green group at Croydon Town Hall as an independent councillor.

Click here for Brixton Buzz’s Lambeth by-election coverage

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