Forthcoming By-elections

There are two Borough by-elections to be held on 20th October. These may be the last by-elections of the current Council terms ... as the statutory bar on by-elections less than six months before an all-out election will come into effect on 4th November.

In Lambeth, the by-election will be to replace Tim Sargeant, who has died at the age of 44. He was the Mayor of the Borough 2003/04 - raising a record amount for charity - and by all accounts a very active and widely respected Cllr since his election in 1998.

Streatham South was a traditionally Tory seat, which Labour first won surprisingly, but then looked increasing safe for them in due to social change. Like the neighbouring wards in north Croydon, Labour has benefited here from inner London moving south. However in 2002, the Lib Dems had a very good election in Streatham and got within 70 votes of winning one of the seats in South.

The other by-election is at Canbury ward in Kingston, following the resignation of Lib Dem Cllr Tony Burlton stating grounds of ill-health. This ward is to the north of Kingston Town Centre, and has switched between Labour and Lib Dem since 1994. Labour won in 1998 in large part because of a row about the Lib Dems work with housing developers ... ending up in a big protest about riverside trees being chopped down to benefit developers' land values.

These look like two interesting tests in Lib Dem-led Boroughs ... can they win seats when the're in power, rather than just from opposition ?