This week Southwark Liberal Democrats launched our manifesto for what will be our largest local election campaign in decades. After 16 years of Labour control, many residents feel the borough has been taken for granted.
Southwark also illustrates a wider challenge facing the Liberal Democrats: how we rebuild our presence in major cities. Much of the party’s recent growth has come in Tory-facing suburban and rural areas, but cities like London remain politically competitive and full of liberal minded voters looking for an alternative to Labour. If the Liberal Democrats are serious about becoming a national force again, we must prove we can win in places like Southwark.
We now have Labour in power at the town hall, City Hall and Whitehall. With power at every level, they can no longer blame anyone else when things go wrong.
Crime is rising, council tax continues to increase, services feel harder to access and the housing crisis is deepening.
Southwark now has the highest crime rate in South East London, yet police front counters have been closed by Labour and the number of community safety officers has been reduced. Complaints about council services are at record levels, and both the Housing Ombudsman and the national regulator have repeatedly found maladministration in Southwark’s housing service.
The housing picture is equally troubling. More than 22,000 households are on the social housing waiting list and we have 4,200 families in temporary accommodation, yet fewer than 70 new council homes were started last year. Youth services have been cut back and seven schools have closed, leaving fewer opportunities and less support for young people and families.
After 16 years in charge, Labour have run out of excuses.
Our manifesto sets out a clear alternative. Under the banner “Six to Fix”, we focus on the priorities residents consistently raise on the doorstep.
Our Six to Fix are:
- Freezing council tax for the poorest residents
- Doubling community safety officers to make our streets safer
- Ensuring half of all new homes built are genuinely affordable
- Opening one-stop shops for council services in every neighbourhood
- Creating eight new parks and green spaces
- Opening five new youth centres
These are practical commitments that would begin restoring trust in the council and improving daily life across the borough.
Urban politics is shifting. Many inner-London voters share liberal values but feel Labour councils have grown complacent after decades of control. Issues like housing affordability, council accountability, public safety and the cost of living are creating space for a credible alternative.
In Southwark we are already seeing the results. On the doorstep we are encountering growing frustration with Labour and increasing interest in the Liberal Democrats as a serious alternative.
Residents also understand the electoral reality: only two parties have ever run Southwark. After May it will be either Labour or the Liberal Democrats running the council.
Election observers have already highlighted Southwark as a borough where Labour could lose its majority, potentially resulting in no overall control and Liberal Democrats in administration – a major shift in the borough’s politics.
For years the Liberal Democrats have been the borough’s only elected opposition, working in our diverse communities and holding the council to account. Our plan to Fix Southwark is built on thousands of conversations with residents and local organisations, as well as the work our councillors do every day in the town hall.
Southwark shows that rebuilding the Liberal Democrats in cities is not only possible but necessary. If the party is to become a truly national force again, we must grow not just in suburbs and rural areas but in our major cities too.
Southwark is at the sharp end of that effort and this May we have the chance to show what is possible. Please help us if you can!
* Cllr Victor Chamberlain is Leader of Southwark Liberal Democrats, Vice Chair of Federal Council and Liberal Democrat Vice Chair of the Neighbourhoods Committee at the Local Government Association
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10 Comments
Hmm I do worry the Green surge is going to massively interfere with this.
The young and well educated voters who predominate places like southwark are generally more ideological and less interested in local politics than the suburban voters that our parties entire national strategy is focused on; if we only campaign on things that will be nice for the local area but don’t have anything bold to say about that national and international issues that they care much more about then many will just vote Green and labour will cling on to power once again.
I have filled in your online form, commented on a Facebook post and phoned Henry who I was told is the local organiser leaving a message. No response!
Tower Hamlets & Southark are reminiscent of third world failures. Birmingham is catching them up pretty rapidly. Corrupt and abysmally run.
@CraigLevine. Have you ever been to the so-called 3rd world? If you had, you would not write such abject nonsense. I have spent 18 months of my life in India and have seen for myself the grinding poverty in the slums of Mumbai and New Delhi and seen the broken streets filled with rubbish that pass for normal life there.
Sure, Labour councils like Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Birmingham are abysmally run by incompetent Labour groups, but to accuse them of corruption is probably libellous. Have you any idea how difficult it has become to be corrupt in local government? Whatever we may think about Labour’s inability to run local councils or the government, we are fortunate in the UK to enjoy some of the lowest levels of corruption in the Western World.
I sometimes wonder what planet you live on?
Well said, Mick. Agree with every word….. and it needed saying.
Tower Hamlets current Mayor was banned for 5 years in 2015 for corrupt practices – running the council like a medieval monarch – that was in the report. Its no different now. Of course it’s abysmally run most labour authorities are.
Like the towns and cities labour mostly control.
Nothing hardly works , nothing is maintained properly , towns delapadated , fly tipping rife , buildings left to rot – indeed third world dumps
Since when was Lutfur Rahman a Labour person?
He represented them from 2002 until 2010 when the nec removed him from standing further as a candidate. The report into running of Tower Hamlets under his tenure was damning. Nothings changed. Might as well let the Diddy men do the auditing…
Having observed the footprints, and as an act of candour and declaration of interest, could Craig Levene please confirm whether or not he is a supporter of Farage’s lot, the so called Reform Party ?
Incidentally, Alex Macfie is correct to point out that Tower Hamlets is not a Labour controlled authority …… it’s run by Rahman’s Aspire Party.
They can change the name – but Rahman took his cohorts with him – they know a good thing when they see it. I see David you asked Slamdac the same question a while back. Seems like anyone that disagrees with your opinion is automatically a Farage supporter.
It’s typical of many on the liberal left these days – any counter arguments lead to accusations of being toxic. You’d prefer an echo chamber, a Stepford comment section.