Keir Starmer attended celebrations as Labour gained Barnet for the first time since the local authority was created in a landslide victory against the Conservatives.
In what was thought to be a highly contested borough, Barnet ended up electing 41 Labour and 22 Conservative councillors in the 24 wards on Thursday.
Created in 1964, Labour has never had overall control of the council and this election it was one of the party’s key London targets.
Speaking after the result, Labour leader Keir Starmer said: “It was important for me to come here to Barnet because my first words as leader of our party when I took over in April 2020 was that we were going to root out anti-Semitism from our party, not tolerate it anymore in our party, change our party.
Keir Starmer and the leader of #Barnet outside #StoneXStadium where Labour gained Barnet for the first time #LondonersVote2022 pic.twitter.com/CHFjPBGg4n
— Thomas 寛揮 Patterson (@thcpatterson) May 6, 2022
“The test of that would be whether the voters trust us again in places like Barnet. And they’ve done it. The voters here have vindicated the hard work we’ve put in.
“I’m particularly thankful to these brilliant candidates who have been putting our message across that Britain needs better than this Prime Minister (Boris Johnson), we need change.”
Starmer congratulated Barnet’s Labour leader Barry Rawlings who was re-elected in his ward of Friern Barnet and who took to the stage once the final ward results were announced.
The new leader of #Barnet council @BarnetLabour’s Barry Rawlings #LondonersVote2022 pic.twitter.com/dmUgnn5q2Z
— Thomas 寛揮 Patterson (@thcpatterson) May 6, 2022
Rawlings said: “Local people, they needed a change and we offered them the change that they wanted.”
He discussed his party’s manifesto that sets out putting sustainability first, helping people with the cost of living crisis and listening to the people of Barnet.
“I think we’ve had a good team that worked hard, I feel a little bit scared but also very excited and look forward to trying to make those changes.”
The Conservatives have had a stronghold of the North London council for nearly 60 years before today as they lost over 15 seats.
Barnet Conservative’s leader Dan Thomas who was comfortably re-elected in his ward of Finchley Church End told us that national issues as well as boundary changes were against the Conservatives.
Thomas said: “We’ve lost some excellent counsellors who have served the community well through no fault of their own.”
The Mayor of Barnet, Alison Cornelius, echoed Thomas’ comments as she said that the boundary changes favoured the Labour party more.
Councillor Gabriel Rozenberg, Barnet Lib Dems leader, who defected from the Conservatives in 2019, ran in West Finchley ward but was defeated by three Labour candidates.
Rozenberg said: “Our position as a party is clearly closer to Labour than Conservatives in many ways, it’s definitely time for change in Barnet.”
During the count there was a very special moment as an impromptu Jewish evening prayer (Maariv) took place where candidates from all parties prayed.
Viljo George Rafiq Wilding, Barnet Labour’s first non-binary candidate, said: “A new dawn has broken in Barnet and we’ll have a council that represents everyone no matter who they voted for.”
For a full breakdown of the Barnet Borough Council Election results click here
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