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Labour’s Val Shawcross wins third term on London Assembly

London SE1 website team

Labour's Val Shawcross has won a third term as Lambeth and Southwark's representative on the London Assembly with a hugely increased majority over the Liberal Democrats.

Val Shawcross
Val Shawcross campaigning at London Bridge last week

Val Shawcross was first elected to the London Assembly in 2000. Although Caroline Pidgeon came a close second in 2004, the 2008 result will be a bitter disappointment to local Liberal Democrats who hoped to seize their first ever constituency seat on the London Assembly.

The blow will be softened by the news that Newington councillor Caroline Pidgeon has secured an Assembly seat via the London-wide list vote.

The totals for the three leading candidates are as follows:

Valerie Shawcross – Labour – 60,801 – 36% (2004: 36,280 – 29%)
Caroline Pidgeon – Liberal Democrat 36,953 – 22% (2004: 30,805 – 25%)
Shirley Houghton – Conservative – 32,835 – 20% (2004: 17,379 – 14%)

Full results on the London Elects website.

Turnout in the two boroughs stood at 42 per cent – up 8.7 per cent on 2004.

The results of the mayoral contest in the Lambeth & Southwark constituency also delivered a clear advantage to Labour's Ken Livingstone, although this was outweighed by the stronger support for Boris Johnson in outer London constituencies.

With the British National Party having won its first ever seat on the London Assembly, City Hall is likely to be the setting of some heated political exchanges over the next four years.

Final composition of the London Assembly

Conservative – 11 (+2)
Labour – 8 (+1)
Lib Dem – 3 (-2)
Green – 2 (no change)
BNP – 1 (+1)

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