Greg Hands MP today expressed his dismay at the prospect of Labour taking over control of Hammersmith Town Hall at the Council’s Annual General Meeting next week, following Labour’s narrow victory in the Council elections on 22nd May.
Labour won 26 Council seats to the Conservatives’ 20 seats, with the LibDems and UKIP each winning no seats at all. Labour’s win ended eight years of progress at Hammersmith Town Hall, with the outgoing Conservative Council reducing Council Tax by 20%, cutting crime by 25% and gaining prestigious awards for the Borough’s parks and other services.
Labour’s gains came as those who voted LibDem in 2010 switched to Labour in 2014. The percentage increase in the LibDem vote was very similar to the percentage rise in the Labour vote.
Labour ran an entirely negative campaign, focusing on the Charing Cross Hospital, whose future had been guaranteed by both David Cameron and Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. Labour claimed that the hospital would be “demolished”, without giving the important fact that it would be replaced by an entirely new building on the same site, with an Accident & Emergency unit.
Commenting, Greg said: “Clearly, the electorate has spoken, and we need to listen. Nevertheless, Labour were elected with nothing positive to say, and did not in any way deserve to win. The outgoing Conservative Council had a fantastic record, and we should all be very proud of what they achieved in eight years at the helm. The new Council has the closest margin in terms of seats between the two parties since 1990.
“I will be watching very closely what the new Labour Council does. The biggest immediate concern for local residents is the Labour councillors support for the policy of Labour and the LibDems nationally to support additional property taxes, in the form of the Homes Tax, what they describe as a ‘Mansion Tax’, which would hit tens of thousands of home owners and private renters throughout the Borough. We cannot let this come to pass in Hammersmith & Fulham.”