I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for the Stroud Green Lib Dem team of Lynne, Ed, Katherine and me. We’ve had a brilliant result both in Hornsey & Wood Green constituency and in Stroud Green ward. Lynne Featherstone has been re-elected as our MP with a much bigger majority, and a 4% swing from Labour to Lib Dems.
I’m also delighted that Ed, Katherine and I were also elected in Stroud Green ward with increased majorities over Labour (the Greens remain in third place and the Tories in fourth). Full details of the parliamentary and council election results are on Haringey’s website here.
Ed, Katherine and I would also like to thank our large network of volunteer leaflet deliverers, envelope stuffers and other activists in Stroud Green – as we couldn’t have inspired so many people to vote Lib Dem without their help.
Sadly, we failed to end Labour’s 40 years of control of Haringey Council. This is hugely disappointing as we had so many fantastic plans to improve the Borough. But obviously we’ll continue to use ours seats and influence on Haringey Council to fight for local residents. We remain the only opposition to Labour on the Council, with yet again no Greens or Tories elected, so we are very aware of our responsibility to challenge and scrutinise the Council’s leadership.
I’m absolutely shattered after the hard work of election (and the epic 11 hour count which took from 10pm on Thursday till 9am on Friday) – but really excited about being able to serve the residents of Stroud Green for another 4 years.
May 9th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Congratulations on your re-election. I know you are a hard-working councillor at a local level. But what will happen if you end up being ‘adopted’ by the Tories and have to start delivering their policies and priorities?
May 9th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Thanks for the message Helen. Thankfully our party structure is fully democratic so any decisions on national coalitions and partnerships will have to be properly approved – and I’m certain we will not enter into anything that allows us to be ‘adopted’ by the Tories. But there is obviously going to have to be compromise form all sides if we are going to have a functioning Government.
May 12th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Now we have the compromises, can we have your reaction? Is a Lib / Con coalition good or bad news for you personally as a LibDem member and local councillor?
May 13th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Personally, I am very excited about this new Coalition Government – they have got a fantastic deal and the Tories do really seem to want to make this work. Rather than a Tory Government cutting inheritance tax for the wealthy we have a coalition cutting income tax for the poorest in society. The commitment to the pupil premium would mean extra money going to schools in the most disadvantaged areas – which is fantastic for Haringey.
Of course, the thought of going into coalition with the Tories is weird – and many Haringey residents will be very anxious. All we can try to do is prove the doubters wrong with our actions.