Twenty-one years of campaigning by Caroline Pidgeon AM and other Liberal Democrat campaigners has finally paid off with Kennington Tube being rezoned into Zone 1/2 border, rather than Zone 1 for Congestion Charge and Zone 2 for Tube fare. Caroline, local councillors, various Lib Dem mayoral candidates and our London MEPs have consistently put the proposal forward since the year 2000.  Which goes to show that being persistent pays off, as does electing Lib Dem candidates at all levels.

It may not seem like a massive issue compared to Covid or Brexit, but it will make a big difference to local people who commute from Kennington, whether they be in Lambeth or Southwark. It is really good to have a positive, good news story for the area, in what has been a troubled time.

Well done to all involved, including our sister party in Southwark.

Simon Hughes, Charles Kennedy, Caroline Pidgeon and Sarah Ludford, and others.

We are very pleased to see Lambeth and London will now have two amazing Liberal Democrat London Assembly Members, Caroline Pidgeon and Hina Bokhari! Too long have either the Conservative or Labour mayors of London felt they could ignore Lambeth and sign off on unwanted new towers (hotels or commercial) or knocking down our estates rather than repairing them. We will have a much stronger London Assembly team to hold to account Labour’s mayor now!

We worked very hard this campaign period as did our candidates! We delivered many tens of thousands of leaflets, phone banked and canvassed across Streatham, Vauxhall and Dulwich & West Norwood. We’re pleased that we received tens of thousands of votes across the GLA elections, building on our second places in Vauxhall and Streatham in the 2019 General Election and our first place in the 2019 European election. Our Assembly candidates, including Florence Cyrot for Lambeth and Southwark Constituency, worked very hard over a two year campaign to secure our position. Thank you also to Luisa Porrit, our mayoral candidate, who ran a great campaign in challenging circumstances.

Thank you all for supporting us and bring on 2022's Lambeth Borough Elections!

Last year we raised the problem of carers working in Lambeth for our residents being charged for parking, whilst working. Carers often having multiple visits in a working shift, parking charges are a burden and it also forces the carers to rush. Other local councils do not do charge! We are therefore happy to see Lambeth Council take our lead and introduce for consultation a new policy - a carer permit based on household.

This scheme is not without flaws, but it is a good start.  If you have an opinion, please get involved in the consultation, which closes 9 May.

It is with sorrow we hear that Shirley Williams has passed away and our condolences go out to her family and friends. 

First as a MP, then as a member of the Lords she gave long service to us all, blazing the way for many with her fierce convictions. She also played a foundational role in the leadership of the SDP and later the Liberal Democrat Party, becoming our Leader in the Lords. 

Edward Davey MP and Leader of Liberal Democrats had this to say: 

"Political life will be poorer without her intellect, wisdom and generosity. Shirley had a limitless empathy only too rare in politics today; she connected with people, cared about their lives and saw politics as a crucial tool to change lives for the better." 

For two decades Lambeth has had 3 member wards, which have increasingly become less reflective of both the borough and the communities they should serve. The LGBCE Review, underway since 2020 is designed to fix that.  We proposed last year that the new ward boundaries reflect Lambeth's communities better, by creating more, smaller wards, in much of the borough. The Commission accepted our proposals in large part.

This is an exciting opportunity for Lambeth to finally have wards based around real communities. We are dissappointed Labour and the Council do not agree with the Commission, however we feel that with a few tweaks, the Commission's submissions will be a great step forward for representation. We have been speaking to residents around the borough about the current proposal and feel there are some changes that could be made that would help.

Keeping real communities together is what is important (not big, artificial 1990s wards).

Time is running out for you to get involved, so if you feel strongly, please contact the Commission!  Check your email for our recommendations!

How can you help?

You can make still a submission to the Lambeth electoral review, to try and influence the final shape of the Borough. We would like you to support our proposals!

1. through the LGBCE consultation area,  
2. by e-mailing [email protected], or 
3. writing to the following address: 

The Review Officer (Lambeth) 

LGBCE

PO Box 133

Blyth

NE24 9FE

Background Information

The LGBCE full recommendation is accessible here. 

The draft map is here - note, this is a large file.

The LGBCE Lambeth website is here.