Screenshot 2024 06 22 at 21.18.51
A prime contender to be the capital’s weirdest-shaped constituency, resembling a knobbly dragon in flight, Cities of London & Westminster is notable, too, for being much less uniformly posh and loaded than its identify would possibly counsel – although it accommodates Buckingham Palace, Mayfair, Belgravia, the Homes of Parliament and Downing Road. It’s additionally very cosmopolitan with a excessive proportion of renters, together with these of the post-war Churchill Gardens Estate – two additional causes for Labour to be cautiously assured about its possibilities on Four July.
The “Two Cities” seat, because it tends to be recognized, hugs the Thames on its southern border and accommodates each inch of the Sq. Mile, the place, famously, only a few individuals reside – a number of Metropolis of London wards comprise fewer than 10 voters. The remainder of it’s composed of the Westminster Metropolis Council wards West Finish, Vincent Sq., St James’s, Pimlico North, Pimlico South, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge & Belgravia and – two new additions following boundary modifications – Regent’s Park and Abbey Street.
The latter two wards are represented by Conservatives on the council, which ought to be useful to Tory candidate Tim Barnes, although Labour sources say they’re getting an honest reception even in these deep blue areas. The temper in Abbey Street, the place a council by-election will take place on the same day as the general election, is described by one Labour campaigner as “fascinating”.
Westminster as an entire has been swinging Labour’s manner for a while, culminating within the celebration’s seize of the council for the primary time in its historical past in 2022. The West Central London Meeting seat, which Westminster types a part of, went Labour in Might – one other first for the celebration. Now, pollster findings say that Labour candidate Rachel Blake will develop into the first non-Tory ever to represent Two Cities or its predecessors.
Blake’s choice as candidate was important in that she prevailed over native competitors regardless of being a councillor in Tower Hamlets. She is a far sounder alternative than the Corbynite vicar Labour constituency members picked for 2019, solely to see him vanish beneath a deluge of misconduct allegations. His brief order successor needed to additional deal with former Labour shadow minister Chuka Umunna operating for the Liberal Democrats and ending second.
The winner by slightly below 4,000 votes was Tory incumbent Nickie Aiken, a former Westminster Council leader. However she announced in February that she can be standing down. Her husband Alex Aiken, a former Tory communications chief, had accepted a job within the United Arab Emirates. Unsurprisingly, some suspect that each had seen the writing on the wall.
Barnes, nonetheless, can declare – and has been – to have a lot stronger native connections than Blake, having represented Westminster’s West Finish council ward till the rising Labour tide claimed him two years in the past. He has additionally been Westminster’s cupboard member for younger individuals and studying. A resident of Soho, he heads the charity Centre for Entrepreneurs.
Blake has ten years of expertise as a Labour councillor within the East Finish and, like Barnes, has been a council cupboard member, in her case for adults, well being and wellbeing. She has a background in housing and planning and might provide Two Cities voters Labour’s policies for private sector rent reform, together with on bettering requirements and ending “no fault” evictions, the latter promised by the Tories in authorities however by no means delivered. Blake can be going big on the promised upgrade of St Mary’s Hospital.
The Lib Dems are represented this time by Edward Lucas, a seasoned former overseas correspondent and son of an Oxford thinker. For all his expertise, he appears unlikely to emulate Umunna’s runner-up efficiency 5 years in the past. This may solely assist Blake in part of the capital which, for all its grandeur and wealth, appears to have develop into more and more turned off by the Tories’ embrace of nationalist Proper populism in recent times and able to embrace Keir Starmer’s reformed Labour.
OnLondon.co.uk offers distinctive protection of the capital’s politics, improvement and tradition. Help it for simply £5 a month or £50 a 12 months and get issues to your cash too. Particulars HERE. Threads: DaveHillOnLondon. X/Twitter: On London and Dave Hill. Picture from OpenStreetMap, obtainable beneath Open Database Licence.
Author: ” — www.onlondon.co.uk ”