The Labour Party swept up 15 new seats in the Lambeth local elections on Thursday, while the Liberal Democrat hold in the borough was decimated from 15 seats to zero.
Labour won a staggering 59 out of 63 seats, which is 54% of the vote. Green Party enthusiasts will be pleased with their single seat in the St Leonard’s Ward, increasing their share of the vote from 7% to 16%. The Tories won three seats; UKIP won zero seats. But the biggest shock of the day was that the Liberal Democrats, who won 15 seats in the 2010 elections, lost every single seat this year.
The striking thing about that table for me is just how broken first past the post is a voting system.
It was interesting to see that in the 4 Brixton wards and Herne Hill, the Greens were in 2nd place by quite a margin above the rest.
Just shows that the electorate in Lambeth were not enthused by the policies, pledges or ideas put forward by Lambeth Liberal Democrats, or simply they did not believe them. There would also have been a degree of punishment against their close relationship with the Conservative Party on a national level. Bedroom Tax, tuition fees, cutting police numbers, messing about with the NHS, the rise of the foodbank; all these would have featured for many who voted last week.
It will now be even more difficult for them to fight these wards again in 2018 as their power base has been completely decimated. The Liberal Democrats have been consigned to the political wilderness for at least the 2018 and possibly the 2022 local elections. This from being in power only 8 years ago is some demise. The same will happen on a national level next year if they continue their status quo with the same leader and propping up the Conservatives in power. This will become evident tonight when the European votes are counted and their power base is further curtailed. Lambeth Liberal Democrats clearly did not see this one coming. Not just one Liberal Democrat Councillor gone but the whole lot of them. The Council Chamber will look a very different place with just 4 Councillors remaining as the official opposition.