Wandsworth residents have expressed their delight after Labour took the Conservative stronghold for the first time in 44 years.
Known as Margaret Thatcher’s ‘favourite council’, Wandsworth had been a Tory flagship since 1978.
But Labour changed all that this morning and took the win with an additional eight seats to hold a majority of 35 seats out of the 58 available.
Incoming Labour council leader Simon Hogg has promised to build a compassionate council for residents.
Maxine Fletcher’s mother lived in Wandsworth most of her life but sadly died just three weeks ago.
Talking about the Conservative loss, Maxine acknowledged that her late mother would have been overjoyed about Wandsworth turning to Labour.
She said, “If she had found out that Wandsworth had gone to Labour, she would have been delighted.
“Even though she paid the lowest bracket of council tax, she would have been over-the-moon and so would have my dad, who we lost last year.”
Jonathan McCracken, 28, has lived in Wandsworth his whole life and was amazed by the change.
He said, “I’m pretty shocked. It has been a Tory stronghold the whole time I’ve lived here and Thatcher was such a big influence here.
I presume that because of party gate the public just don’t trust Boris Johnson any longer.”
However, Natalie C was not at all surprised at the result.
The Wandsworth resident is a keen follower of politics and hoped that the change would not bring about a big difference in the borough’s structure.
She said, “Essentially I don’t think it’s surprising seeing as people are quite reactive and are using their right to vote to exercise what they feel is correct.
“Hopefully the infrastructure won’t change too much. I’m sure new policies will be put in place and obviously Labour are going to want to make their mark.
“But all in all I just hope that Wandsworth will carry on and maybe some improvements will happen.
Taran Franck, 23, is a Canadian student who just moved to the area and is worried about what the Labour takeover will mean for him.
He said, “I don’t know what that entirely means for us as residents, I just moved in this week.
I know that it’s been a Conservative stronghold for a long time, so, what that means for me I need to check as I don’t want it to be a big change.”
