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Lambeth Council has two new Labour Councillors following the results of a couple of by-elections that took place in the borough on Thursday.
Cllr Sarah Cole is the new Labour Councillor for Streatham Common and Vale. She is joined by her party colleague Cllr Emma Nye in Knight’s Hill ward.
This is the second time at the Town Hall for Cllr Nye. She was elected as a Labour Councillor in Coldharbour ward in 2018. She stepped down in 2022.
The results for the by-elections were announced by Lambeth Chief Executive Bayo Dosunmu following the count that took place at The Oval cricket ground on Friday:
Knight’s Hill
Victoria Evans (Green) 983
Janet Gayle (Indie) 210
Emma Nye (Labour) 2,677
Nicolas Sanders (LibDems) 378
Leila Yassen (Tory) 530
Streatham Common and Vale
Sarah Cole (Labour) 2,269
Nicolas Davidson (LibDems) 596
Duncan Eastoe (Greens) 784
Promise Phillips (Tory) 884
The Greens will be pleased with their results in both wards. The Tories also put in a strong performance in Streatham Common and Vale.
The campaign for this particular ward has been dominated by the Streatham Low Traffic Neighbourhood. Lambeth Labour ‘suspended’ the LTN in March after intervention from their party colleague Sadiq Khan.
Conservative candidate Promise Phillips made the LTN central to the Tory campaign in the ward. This is reflected in the better than expected 884 votes.
The by-elections were called for two very different reasons.
Ex-Cabinet member Cllr Sonia Winifred resigned her Knight’s Hill seat after she was disciplined by Lambeth Labour for supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.
Cllr Winifred voted in favour of a Green party Motion calling for a ceasefire back in January at Full Council. Lambeth Labour failed to offer any alternative or Amendment.
The local Labour party gave Cllr Winifred a three month suspension for not following the Labour whip. Cllr Winifred resigned immediately.
The Streatham Common and Vale by-election has come about after Cllr Tom Rutland disappeared to the South Coast – less than two years after first being elected as a Lambeth Councillor. Rutland believes that he should now be an MP.
Cllr Rutland is the PPC candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham. Local Labour party members in the constituency have expressed their disappointment that a Starmer clone has been bussed in to contest the seat.
With Labour retaining both by-election seats, the number of Councillors at the Town Hall for each party remains the same:
Labour 57
LibDems 3
Green 2
The Lambeth count for the London Mayoral election will take place at The Oval on Saturday. A result is expected early evening.