Wandsworth and Westminster elections: Labour storms to victory in traditional Tory strongholds

Two long-time Tory bastions in London have fallen to Labour and are being held up as the most symbolic and seismic results of this year’s local elections.

Wandsworth council – a Tory stronghold since 1978 – and Westminster, which has been controlled by the Conservatives for decades, became bathed in Labour red for the very first time.

Labour also won Barnet for the first time to give further belief to Sir Keir Starmer and his party that an irreversible sea-change is on the way ahead of the next general election.

He hailed the results as “a big turning point,” adding they had “sent a message to the PM Britain deserves better”, and that they put the party “back on track for the general election”.

Wandsworth was trending Labour over a long period. They won all of the three parliamentary seats in the 2019 general election, including Putney – its sole gain in the election.

They won 35 seats to the Tories’ 22 in this week’s ballot, with one independent.

In Westminster the tally was 31 to 23. That was a leap of 13 extra seats for Labour, with the Tories losing 13.

Wandsworth’s new Labour leader, Simon Hogg, promised to “build a compassionate council that truly listens, and keep that same low council tax.”

He added: “When we were calling around on voters, we didn’t even have to raise partygate, we didn’t have to mention Boris Johnson.

“People have formed their own views on this Government, so I am afraid it is time for change at the top as well.”

The outcome in Wandsworth is a far cry from the days when former PM Margaret Thatcher could declare it her favourite, flagship council.

But Westminster was at the upper end of the Labour Party’s ambitions and is even more of a shock.

This election represents a huge shift after the Tories won 41 seats to Labour’s 19 in 2018.

Since its creation in 1950, the parliamentary constituency has always elected a Conservative MP. Its current member of Parliament is Nickie Aiken, who was elected in 2019.

Westminster City Council’s new leader, Adam Hug, said: “It’s a great night for Labour. I’m very, very elated. We have made history here in Westminster.

“We had an amazing team of councillors and we have gone out and listened to people across Westminster.

“The council has ignored their concerns.

“People were telling us ‘I can’t vote for Boris Johnson any more’.”

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan hailed Labour’s win in Wandsworth, too, saying people there had voted to spite Boris Johnson – adding that the Prime Minister had been a “vote-winner for Labour”.

Wandsworth is an area which has undergone huge changes, having transformed run-down parts of the capital with foreign investment.

The area between Vauxhall Bridge and Battersea Bridge is no longer an industrial wasteland.

Nine Elms has seen the arrival of the huge Embassy Gardens development. There is now a developer-funded Northern line tube extension to Battersea Power Station.

It was the only London borough to cut council tax this year and has long had a tradition of keeping costs down.

But that has not been enough to sway a younger and more cosmopolitan demographic.

The Clapham, Balham and Tooting areas the council serves was also the eight-highest remain voting area in the EU referendum and the entire borough is represented by Labour MPs.

Previous Tory council leader Ravi Govindia had hoped good local husbandry would win the day but the national picture clearly played a role, including the parties scandal.

Pictured top: Labour supporters celebrate taking Westminster City Council for the first time since its inception in 1962 (Picture: PA)