Last week's elections in Greenwich have shown a significant boost in Conservative support in the Borough, with strong performances by our candidates for the London Assembly and local Council by-elections, and swings from Labour to the Conservatives of up to 10%.
There were four by-elections held for vacant seats on Greenwich Council, all of which recorded a clear swing away from Labour to the Conservatives, with our candidates all making progress in the solidly Labour wards and holding onto second place.
- In Kidbrooke with Hornfair, Andrea Borbely achieved a striking 10% swing from Labour, and polled a third of the vote.
- In Shooters Hill, Daniel McGinley achieved a 7% swing, adding 12 points to the Conservative vote share
- In Greenwich West, Ben Crompton regained second place and achieved a 4% swing
- In Glyndon, Naveed Mughal held second place and achieved a 4% swing to the Conservatives.
In the election for the London Assembly, Councillor Charlie Davis also held second place, and received more votes than any previous Conservative candidate in the Greenwich and Lewisham constituency, polling 38,889 votes. The Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, Shaun Bailey, also did better than predicted, increasing the number of Conservative Mayoral votes in Greenwich and Lewisham compared to 2016, whilst Labour's Sadiq Khan saw his number of votes fall. Across London, the strong Conservative performance resulted in the gain of an extra London-wide seat on the London Assembly.
Councillor Charlie Davis welcomed the result, saying:
“I’m delighted to have achieved the highest ever Conservative popular vote in Greenwich and Lewisham, amongst some strong by-election results from our excellent team of candidates. Over the next year, we’ll continue to push on the issues we put at the heart of our campaign such as empowering communities across the borough, cutting crime and tackling Labour’s tax raid on working families in Greenwich.”
The Leader of Greenwich Conservatives, Councillor Nigel Fletcher, also said he was "delighted" with the results:
“I’m really pleased with this performance by our outstanding candidates - we achieved swings from Labour to Conservative in every one of these seats, including more than 10% in Kidbrooke with Hornfair. More people across Greenwich are turning away from Labour, who have taken votes for granted for far too long.
“And I’m delighted that Charlie Davis polled more votes for the London Assembly than any Conservative has ever done since the seat was created. Labour assumed they could coast to victory in London, but here and elsewhere people have reacted against their complacency. These results are an encouraging sign as we look ahead to the Council elections next year, where Greenwich Conservatives will be presenting a strong alternative for residents fed up after 50 year of Labour at the Town Hall,"
