Labour’s dithered, it’s time for the Liberal Democrats

he Southwark Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto on Friday, which demands better for Southwark after over a decade of Labour letting residents down.

It contains policies to make Southwark the greenest borough in London, to tackle the housing crisis and that would put communities at the heart of everything the council does.

These policies include proposals to provide free membership for Southwark residents to use cycle-hire, requiring 50 per cent genuinely affordable housing on all private developments and employing 100 community wardens to tackle antisocial behaviour.

Other policies range from hiring mental health counsellors in every school to expanding the council’s hardship fund so that all struggling Southwark households can access it amid a cost-of-living crisis.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto follows 12 years of Labour rule in which the administration presided over an explosion of the council homes waiting list to over 16,000 households.

Between 2010-2020, Labour demolished or sold close to 4,000 council homes. Recent figures have revealed that in the last four years they have only built 166 new council properties.

The Labour council dithered and delayed on the climate emergency when it took two and a half years to publish its climate change strategy, which environmental campaigners then slammed.

While, in spite of high crime rates in Southwark, Labour also slashed community warden numbers by 74 per cent from 2010 to 2021.

Southwark Liberal Democrats