Labour's dismal night - but mayor stays on (From News Shopper)

Labour's dismal night - but mayor stays on

2:19pm Friday 5th May 2006

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Labour endured a black Thursday at the polls in Lewisham as it lost its grip on the town hall. GLENN EBREY and CHRIS JOHNSON gathered reactions to the results.

IN A night of high drama the ruling Labour party suffered spectacular losses, with deputy mayor Gavin Moore one of 14 Labour councillors to get the boot.

Election night saw the borough turn green and yellow as the Green Party and the Lib Dems made huge gains, leaving Labour with no overall majority.

The only good news for Labour was the re-election of Mayor Steve Bullock, which means the party retains overall control of the council chamber.

Lewisham Council now has 26 Labour members, 17 Lib Dems, six Greens, three Tories and two from the Socialist Party.

A 33.8 per cent turnout represented a near 10 per cent improvement on the 2002 elections.

This proved to be bad news for the ruling Labour group which lost its stranglehold on several wards.

Blackheath provided the night's biggest surprise where three Labour councillors were replaced by a trio of Lib Dems.

This included the highest-profile casualty of the night deputy mayor Gavin Moore.

Visibly shocked he refused to comment on his defeat, only saying to colleagues he would "seek a new challenge".

Mayor Steve Bullock admitted the loss of his right-hand man was a major blow to the party.

He said: "Gavin has done an absolutely superb job and will be very difficult to replace."

Mr Bullock held onto his mayoral position comfortably, seeing off his nearest rival Lib Dem Chris Maines by 6,240 votes.

Even though Labour lost its majority, Mr Bullock's status as a directly-elected mayor means he will still have the overall say on major decisions.

He said: "If we were not a mayoral authority we would descend into total chaos.

"I am delighted to have won but these are certainly not a good set of results for Labour."

And the mayor admitted recent national scandals surrounding Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and former home secretary Charles Clarke have not helped his cause.

The Greens lived up to their pre-election predictions by taking five new seats to add to their existing councillor, Darren Johnson.

The party now has all three seats in both Brockley and Ladywell, where Labour lost out after the ongoing wrangle over the closure of Ladywell Leisure Centre.

Lewisham Green Party leader Cllr Johnson said: "I am staggered at the result and overwhelmed at the faith the public have put in us.

"For so many years the council has been a rubber-stamping chamber pushing through decisions with hardly any scrutiny.

"Now the chamber is split down the middle there is a chance for debate."

The Lib Dems also had a triumphant night, increasing their number of seats from seven to 17.

Chris Maines, who made up for his mayoral disappointment with election as a councillor in Blackheath, says his party is now "on the main stage in Lewisham".

He added: "We will be working to ensure Steve Bullock is held to account and will scrutinise his every decision."

The Tories took three seats - all in Grove Park - while their mayoral candidate James Cleverly finished third.

Socialist councillors Chris Flood and Ian Page retained their seats in Telegraph Hill.

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