Outer London concerns as Tories lose MPs

Concerns have been raised that in some parts of London constituents in Conservative seats may not have their voices heard, now that Labour has taken hold of the capital.

Thursday’s general election marked the worst result for the Conservatives in London.

Labour now have 59 of the capital’s 75 MPs; the Conservatives have nine, a drop from 21.

Labour has said that having a Labour mayor and government would mean a better working relationship.

Before the election, Conservative MP and Minister for London Greg Hands warned of a lack of scrutiny in the wake of a Labour monopoly in the capital, with London’s mayor Sadiq Khan adding to its dominance.

On Thursday Mr Hands lost his seat, Chelsea and Fulham, by 152 votes.

For the first time ever, the Tories lost the Cities of London and Westminster, meaning inner London is now completely Labour.

All Conservative seats are in outer London.

The Liberal Democrats have nine MPs in the outer boroughs and Independent Jeremy Corbyn – Labour’s former leader – retained his Islington North seat.

On the Tories, Prof Tony Travers, an expert in local government at the London School of Economics, said: “Though their vote share fell, it didn’t fall as badly as in other parts of the country, and Labour’s vote share almost certainly fell in London.”

Commenting on BBC One’s Politics London, Sir Bob Neill, former MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, said: “The concern is that in some parts of outer London, there’s a Labour mayor and a Labour government that don’t understand the outer London suburbs.”

He added: “It’s going to be a challenge for them to demonstrate that they can take onboard the concerns of outer London residents, such as Ulez (Ultra Low Emission Zone) expansion.”

Speaking on the same programme, Seema Malhotra the Labour MP for Feltham and Heston, said: “People have put their trust in a changed Labour party and we’ve seen that in the increase in seats that we’ve had in London.”