There were two London borough by-elections last Thursday, 10 April. They produced two bad results for Labour and two convincing victories for rival parties of the centre or left. The more dramatic came in Haringey, where the Green Party gained the St Ann’s ward. But a Liberal Democrat hold in Sutton Central had its own lessons for London’s political parties.
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The Haringey St Ann’s contest was triggered by the resignation of Labour councillor Tammy Dymas, who had become disenchanted with Labour national government policy on a range of issues, including the funding of local government, telling the Ham & High: ‘The Labour Party nationally is making our lives difficult to deliver the services we need to so it’s very hard to justify continuing to be a councillor for a party who is doing that.”
Dymas felt unable to vote for the cuts in Haringey’s budget and, like several councillors recently, became concerned about personal safety, blaming transphobic threats against her and abuse. Disaffection with Labour is not unique in the former “Corbyn council” – since 2022, three Labour councillors have formed an Independent Socialist group and one has gone Independent.
St Ann’s was a most unwelcome ward for Haringey Labour to defend. It was a target for the Green Party in the 2022 borough elections, where it polled 41 per cent – easily the party’s best in Haringey – compared with Labour’s 52 per cent. In 2018, the Greens had polled more than a quarter of the vote in the larger version of the ward that existed before boundary changes in 2022 created a new Hermitage and Gardens ward.
A two-member ward in the west of Tottenham, St Ann’s is basically a combination of the west side of Seven Sisters with the south of West Green. It is a typically mixed, diverse slice of middle London – 49 per cent white, a mosaic of housing tenure, profession, deprivation, and religion. The ward’s best-known landmark for the casual observer is the cheerful snail mural on the gable end of a house on Victoria Crescent facing Seven Sisters Road, which has lifted the hearts of passers-by since the mid-1970s.
The 2022 election was fought between Labour, the Greens and Liberal Democrats. Other candidates came forward to fight the by-election, representing the Conservatives and Reform UK from the Right, and two from the Left in the form of TUSC (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition) and the Communist League. But none of these stood much of a chance in what was always going to be a Labour versus Green contest. The Greens used Lib Dem-style bar charts to make the point.
Their candidate, Ruairidh Paton, is a worker for a youth climate group. Labour’s defence was in the hands of Stephen Tawiah, an asylum and human rights lawyer. The result was a big win for the Greens. Paton was elected with 1,059 votes (55 per cent) to 589 (31 per cent) for Tawiah. None of the other candidates managed as much as five per cent of the vote. Turnout was 29 per cent, which is not bad for a local by-election and down less than three percentage points on what it was in the full borough elections in 2022.
Although St Ann’s was a particularly vulnerable ward, the result reflects general disaffection among Labour’s metropolitan core vote, as did the Ilford Independents’ triumph in Redbridge two weeks earlier. Labour’s national strategy has taken this vote for granted, and the party has been bleeding votes to its Left and to abstention since before the July 2024 general election. Where a clear alternative exists, voters who were enthusiastic Labour supporters in 2017 or even in 2019 will coalesce around it to give the government a kicking. Councils such as Haringey are collateral damage, both for the national government and for angry voters.
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Sutton Central is accurately-named. It contains the town centre of Sutton and some surrounding residential areas, mostly to the north and east of the High Street. Sutton formally became part of Greater London in 1965, but it has been in the metropolitan region for much longer.
My 1876 Hand Book of the Environs of London by Dr James Thorne notes that “Sutton has of late years grown largely in wealth and population. Its easy distance from London, the railway facilities, the proximity of the Downs, the pleasantness of the scenery, and its reputed salubrity, have made it a favourite residence for City men, and houses have been built for their accommodation on every available site.”
Earlier in the 19th Century its reputation was rougher, the main landmark being the Cock Hotel run by former boxer “Gentleman” John Jackson, which was the last place before Epsom racecourse where crowds could watch animal-baiting. The Cock’s sign is preserved as a feature of Sutton High Street.
There may not be blood sports in the streets of Sutton any more, but local politics has tended to be a cruel business for parties other than the Libs Dems. The party has been in majority control since 1990 – only five boroughs have a longer continuous record of single-party majorities.
The origins of Lib Dem strength in Sutton are a bit different from those in Richmond-upon-Thames. Sutton is much less dominated by the wealthy and educated who make up the party’s core demographic. It is more ordinary outer London territory, reminiscent of Bexley, and was one of the five boroughs to vote Leave in the 2016 Europe referendum.
It is historically contingent on a December 1972 parliamentary by-election, which was won by the Liberal Party candidate Graham Tope from a standing start. Tope lost the seat in February 1974, but in May of that year was elected for Sutton Central ward, which can claim to be one of the hearths of Liberal activism in Sutton.
Tope, who was appointed to the House of Lords in 1994, remained a councillor until 2014. The local party has kept up a classic campaigning machine – pavement-pounding councillors and activists, year-round Focus newsletters and an emphasis on very local issues.
While the Lib Dems have been dominant in Sutton, including Sutton Central, opposition has not melted away. Being in power a long time means being held responsible for unpopular decisions, such as the siting of an incinerator in the east of the borough, and the last couple of sets of borough elections have produced smaller majorities than the Lib Dems have been accustomed to.
There was a serious prospect of them losing in 2022 despite the favourable national background, but in the end they managed a three-seat majority. Sutton Central was one of the wards where the line held, despite a strong Labour challenge in a three-way contest. The ward is demographically one of the more Labour-inclined parts of Sutton, being largely composed of flats rather than suburban houses, and with an above-average proportion of social housing for the borough.
Another symptom of longevity in power is splits and personality conflicts. It appears that these lay at the root of the Sutton Central by-election. Outgoing councillor David Bartolucci had previously been deputy leader of the council, but had fallen out with colleagues over a town centre redevelopment project. Relations had broken down so badly that he stopped going to council meetings and was disqualified for non-attendance.
Long-term incumbency, the 2014-22 decline in Lib Dem dominance at council level, the ward’s marginality and the embarrassing reason for the contest could have made Sutton Central a difficult defence. But the result was a comprehensive Lib Dem victory.
New candidate Richard Choi (pictured), a member of Sutton’s sizeable Hong Kong Chinese community, was elected with 1,291 votes (56 per cent, compared to 39 per cent in the 2022 borough elections) and a landslide majority over a splintered opposition. Labour’s vote share fell from 27 per cent in 2022 to nine, a result that should be nearly as mortifying as the one in St Ann’s. The Conservatives took second place by default, but their vote share was down by nine percentage points. Reform will probably be a bit disappointed by its 12 per cent share.
There are not many places where one can imagine the Lib Dems facing off against Reform, but Sutton is one of them. The Sutton Liberal Democrats can look forward to the 2026 borough elections with some confidence after Thursday’s strong swing in their favour.
Support OnLondon.co.uk and its writers for just £5 a month or £50 a year and get things for your money that other people don’t. Details HERE. Follow Lewis Baston on Bluesky. Photo from Lib Dem victory Richard Choi’s X/Twitter feed.