Lambeth election: Last remaining Tory on council loses seat

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter 

Lambeth has no Conservative councillors for the first time ever after the last Tory member lost his seat.

Former councillor Tim Briggs was beaten into fifth place by the Lib Dems and Labour in Clapham Common and Abbeville.

His defeat condemns the Tories to their unwanted piece of local history. The borough was created in 1964 and has always had Conservative representation before now.

Mr Briggs, who had been a councillor since 2014, previously admitted he was struggling to keep the seat that he won by 32 votes at the last election in 2018.

He said voters were mentioning Boris Johnson’s rule breaking lockdown birthday party on the doorstep.

Mr Briggs left the count hours before the final result was announced after realising he had no hope of victory.

Labour swept to victory by winning 58 of 63 seats – the same as in 2018.

Lambeth leader Cllr Claire Holland said the result showed Labour had the backing of residents.

She said: “The results show that people in Lambeth have put faith in us again and shown support for what we have pledged to do.

“We have the most diverse set of councillors we’ve ever seen. We’ve got a set of councillors that look like Lambeth.”

Despite winning three seats from the Greens, Labour lost out to the Lib Dems in the new Streatham Hill West and Thornton ward.

Donna Harris and Matthew Bryant became the first Lib Dems elected in the borough since 2010. The Lib Dems also picked up one councillor in Clapham Common and Abbeville – Mr Briggs’ former seat.

Ms Harris, who joined the Lib Dems following Brexit, said: “I never thought I would be doing this but I became more involved and realised Lambeth Labour is not working for people. We’ve worked so hard for this from the bottom up.”

Pictured top: Lambeth town hall