There are no no-go areas for Labour, as we win in Surrey

By Luke Akehurst

One of the features I run on my blog – www.lukeakehurst.blogspot.com – is a weekly round-up of council by-election results. You can’t extrapolate national trends from these samples but they do tell you that the state of Labour activism and organisation on the ground is a lot better than the national polls suggest. Since the New Year there has been a string of positive results for Labour in local by-elections: a big swing from Lib Dem to Labour in Drypool, Hull; holds against tough opposition from the Tories in Seven Sisters, Haringey and Thringstone, NW Leics; the Greens in Stoke Newington, Hackney; and the BNP in Hyde Newton ward, Trafford; a hold in split Heath Town Ward, Wolverhampton; and a Labour gain from the Tories in Jubilee ward, Enfield.

There’s also been the warning siren in Sevenoaks that we must take the BNP threat seriously with their gain of Swanley St Mary ward from us.

This week saw swings to Labour in Greaseley in the marginal Broxtowe constituency and in Walsall, and Labour gaining a seat in Court Ward in Epsom & Ewell, Surrey – in the parliamentary seat of Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling.

That Labour can still pick up by-election gains in Surrey in its third term in power shows there are no “no-go” areas for us as there are for the Tories in many urban areas, and that we remain an electoral force to be reckoned with. Well done to the Epsom & Ewell Labour Party on their win.