INSIDE SUTTON: Liberal Democrats hail a ‘great result’ in council by-election, as Labour crash from second to fourth, beaten by Reform
‘Great result’: Choi Ka Yuen, the winning candidate (centre), with his new council colleagues Barry ‘Basher’ Lewis and Luke Taylor MP
Choi Ka Yuen, sometimes known as Richard Choi, is Sutton’s newest councillor, the Liberal Democrat holding the Sutton Central council seat in yesterday’s by-election which was called when one of his party colleagues didn’t bother turning up for any council meetings for six months.
Sutton LibDems hailed it as a “great result”.
Despite their councillor’s absenteeism and their increasingly dodgy record at the council, the LibDems managed a 17% swing from Labour, as Keir Starmer’s party endured a desperately poor result, dropping from second at the 2022 local elections to fourth last night. Those LibDem “squeeze” leaflets must have convinced some voters.
Labour’s candidate Kerrie Peek was beaten by LibDem Choi (1,291 votes), Conservative Maria Arif (327) and Reform’s Joanna Bishop (282), polling just 216 votes, or 9.3% of all votes cast. Labour had polled at 27% in this ward just three years ago.
Result: Sutton Central’s by-election was an overwhelming win for the LibDems
Perhaps it was the unfair burden of having Croydon Labour out campaigning for Peek on election day, with serial loser Ben Taylor once again proving to be something of an electoral jinx?
It would be wrong to read too much nationally into any of the by-election results overnight, but overall, none of them can be seen as encouraging for Keir Starmer’s Labour.
Reform UK gained its first councillor in Greater Manchester last night as Labour lost its safest seat in Tameside.
Reform finishing ahead of Labour in Sutton Central may be a bit of a high-water mark in this part of London, where Nigel Farridge’s limited company struggles to make any real in-roads, even against the Conservatives.
The LibDem win in Sutton was the result of some thorough campaigning, in a ward in the Sutton and Cheam parliamentary seat which Luke Taylor won from the Conservatives last year, and so offers some further encouragement for them ahead of the 2026 borough-wide local elections.
Jinx: did Croydon serial election loser Ben Taylor help or harm the party’s campaign in Sutton?
The opposite is the case for Labour, which despite winning three council seats in Sutton in 2022, still struggles to get a toe-hold in the borough. The Labour canvassers from Croydon, including mayoral wannabe Rowenna Davis, may privately be concerned at how poorly their party is performing nationally.
Sutton Council now comprises 29 LibDem councillors, 21 Conservatives, three independents and two Labour.
Choi, a small business owner who moved to Sutton in 2008, appeared on the ballot papers under his Cantonese name, though his 55.7% of the votes cast meant that he had support from many more than the 502 of his fellow Hongkongers registered to vote in Sutton Central.
Choi maintained Sutton’s Liberal Democrats impressive record of never having lost a council by-election in a ward in which they were the incumbents.
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Interesting result and clearly disappointing for Labour. That said the Conservatives dived 10% and Reform got a toe hold 12%. Nationally Badenoch has said implied will entertain local alliances with Reform to form Councils. Probably not on the cards locally but a dismal prospect for anyone who is fairly progressive!