Large numbers of defecting Labour voters have given the Green Party confidence they will win the Herne Hill by-election on 1 May.
After defeating Labour in the St Ann’s (Haringey) by-election on 10 April, the party is backing Paul Valentine, an actor who has featured in HBO’s House of the Dragon television show, to close the 504-vote gap from the last election and defeat Labour candidate Stephen Clark.
The Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction election was called after Labour councillor Jim Dickson, who served on the council for more than 20 years, resigned from his position eight months after being elected MP for Dartford.
Valentine said: “Every time that a Green has been elected, they have demonstrated that they’re there for the long haul and there to work hard, which is what I want to try and do in this ward as well.
“Jim Dickson beat a Conservative to Dartford, and congratulations to him, but really you should then stand down [as a councillor].
“We’ve been a ward – a big one, with an 11,000 electorate, long and winding – a three-councillor ward, functioning with only two councillors.
“I just don’t think that’s morally right. I want to live in an area that has three councillors out of three working for the area.”
Valentine, who is running for the second time after losing out to Labour in 2022, is campaigning on a platform of protecting public spaces, improving housing, ensuring council accountability on spending, and cleaning up the streets.
Protecting Carnegie Library and Brockwell Park have become especially important issues in this by-election, with petitions currently gathering steam to stop funding cuts to the library and to respond to concerns surrounding Brockwell Live music festival and its impact on the park and surrounding community.
The election – which is also contested by Local Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK, and others – will choose one candidate to join the 63-seat Lambeth council, of which Labour currently hold 57.
A Lambeth Labour spokesperson said of their candidate Stephen Clark: “Stephen has a strong track record of standing up for local residents, successfully campaigning for a new lease at the Carnegie Library Hub.
“Over the past year, he has been out listening to residents and championing the issues that matter most.”
Clark is campaigning with the promise of prioritising better local housing, cleaner and safer streets, and improved accessibility at Loughborough Junction Station.
Meanwhile, Cllr Ruairidh Paton, who won the St Ann’s by-election for the Greens, said of his victory: “We spoke to more than 2000 residents and we heard the same story time and again.
“People are struggling with bills, soaring rent and food prices, and feel abandoned by politicians who don’t care about them.”
Paton won 55% of the vote, with 1,059 votes, nearly double Labour’s total, and with a margin of victory equalled only once in the 23-year history of the ward.
Reacting to Paton’s election success, Valentine said: “They ran their campaign so well and they really did in Haringey what I’ve been trying to do here as well: just speaking to people.
“People in Haringey felt like they weren’t being listened to, and it’s the same here.”
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