Labour win Lambeth council by-election after death of councillor

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Labour have won a council by-election which was called after the previous councillor died.

The party’s candidate for Vauxhall, Tom Swaine-Jameson, finished in first place with 595 votes and a 42 per cent vote share.

The by-election, which took place yesterday, was called after former Vauxhall Labour councillor Liam Jarnecki died of cancer in August.

The Liberal Democrat candidate Fareed Alderechi finished second with 395 votes and the Green Party’s candidate Jacqueline Rose Bond finished in third with 256 votes.

Mr Swaine-Jameson, who is a university lecturer and trustee of a local arts equalities charity, joins two other Labour councillors, Isla Wrathmell and Martin Bailey, in representing the area.

The local Labour Party promised to help residents with housing repairs, antisocial behaviour and overcrowded accommodation in a leaflet distributed during the campaign.

Conservative candidate Lee Rotherham, a Brexit-supporting historian, finished in fourth place with 160 votes.

Just over a fifth of Vauxhall residents – 22.5 per cent – cast their vote in the by-election.

Labour-run Lambeth council is made up of 63 councillors. Of those elected, 58 are from Labour, three are Liberal Democrats and two are from the Green Party.

Pictured top: From left, new Labour Vauxhall councillor Tom Swaine-Jameson with Lambeth council town hall boss Bayo Dosunmu (Picture: Lambeth council)