Hampstead

City of Westminster Council leader has announced she will leave her role after she was elected as an MP last night.

Nickie Aiken said she felt "dazed" after a long campaign which saw her win the Cities of London and Westminster constituency.

Straight away, the new MP pledged to help the capital's rough sleepers.

She said: “My main priorities for the constituency will be to try and work with ministers to really tackle the on-going issues of rough sleeping we have in London and to change their lives around.

“And short term lettings have got to be addressed. It’s caused a massive issue and that’s really got to be addressed. It’s caused major problems many many for people in central London.”

She will be tendering her resignation next week as Leader of the Conservative controlled Westminster City Council as she said you can’t do both jobs.

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London politicians who changed parties in the middle of the last Parliament all lost their seats.

Chukka Umunna and Mike Gapes both defected from the Labour Party to join The Independent Group in March.

Mr Umunna, who had been the MP for Streatham for nine years, stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency.

He took 13,096 votes and lost out to the leader of Westminster City Council Nickie Aiken.

Mr Gapes, who was the Labour MP for Ilford South for 27 years - only managed 3,891 votes as he stood in the same seat as a candidate for The Independent Group.

A further 16 MPs who also defected earlier this year - including former government ministers Anna Soubry, Sam Gyimah and David Gauke - all lost their seats at the election.

What has the election taught us in London?

• Labour comfortably won in London. But compared to 2017, Labour’s vote-share is down in the capital about 6.5%, and the Lib Dems’ is up about 6%.
• ·London is an island of red surrounded by a sea of blue. A quarter of all UK Labour MPs are now in London.
• Labour’s only gain in the whole country was in Putney (spare a thought for the Conservative candidate, Will Sweet..)
• ·In some seats (Kensington, Cities of London & Westminster, Finchley & Golders Green), it appears the ‘Remain’ vote split between the Lib Dems and Labour, allowing the Conservatives to win.

AFP

Boris Johnson's father, Stanley, has said he hopes his son and the Conservatives will make the environment a priority policy.

Mr Johnson senior, who described himself as a "bystander" supported the XR rebellion protesters at a demonstration in Trafalgar square in October.

Speaking to Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London he said it was "totally vital" that climate change and the environment was a first issue for government to deal with.

He added the reason why the Conservatives had won with such a landslide was because Labour had failed to grasp the Brexit issue, unlike his son, who had totally "hammered, hammered, hammered the Get Brexit Done message".

So Labour is still the dominant party in London with 49 of its 73 MPs but its newly elected members haven’t been smiling much overnight.

They’ve seen their party roundly rejected in large parts of the UK, once again setting the capital against the rest of the country. Indeed, the only Labour gain on the night was in Putney.

In light of what happened elsewhere, holding on to what they have in the capital will be seen as something of a triumph but they will face difficult questions, not only about their party’s future, but about how a Labour city will work with a heavily Conservative government.

How will a Labour mayor persuade the man who used to do his job, that it’s worth spending money in the capital, when he will want to reward voters in the Midlands and the North who delivered him such a big majority?

London is not just a Labour city but also a Remain one.

It was the only region of England to vote to Remain and the new government will now drive forward with a mandate to “Get Brexit done”.

There may be interesting battles ahead.

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The Liberal Democrats have announced the party's deputy leader, Sir Ed Davey, and its president, Baroness Sal Brinton, will become joint acting leaders after Jo Swinson lost her seat overnight.

Ms Swinson became her party's first female leader in a landslide victory over Sir Ed earlier this year, succeeding Sir Vince Cable.

Sir Ed, the Kingston and Surbiton MP, said a leadership election will take place in the new year.

Baroness Brinton thanked Ms Swinson "for her honest and fearless leadership".

All of the London constituencies have now declared, and the numbers are identical to 2017.

Labour has won 49 of the 73 London seats, three more than the party had before the General Election, but back up to the levels achieved at the 2017 election. Between 2017 and 2019 they lost three seats through defections.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and current Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn both won their local constituencies.

The Conservatives have won 21 seats, gaining the ultra-marginal seat of Kensington to cancel out the loss of Putney.

Despite the dramatic win in Richmond the Liberal Democrats now have three MPs in London, one less than they had before the general election.

Mr Umunna, who joined the Liberal Democrats, lost his bid to become MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, while Tom Brake lost in Carshalton and Wallington.

Liberal Democrats have requested a random sample of bundles in late drama at Carshalton & Wallington count.

Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake is in a very close finish with Conservative Elliot Colburn.

bbc

The Conservatives have won back Kensington by 150 votes.

The hyper-marginal constituency, having been gained by Labour in 2017 with only a 20-vote majority, was seen as a target for three main national parties.

Conservative candidate Felicity Buchan, won 16,768 votes.

Labour's Emma Dent Coad, the sitting MP, won 16,618 votes.

The three-horse race has been contentious. Mrs Dent Coad reported her Liberal Democrat opponent, Sam Giymah, over “inaccurate and dangerous” allegations she had been involved in choosing the cladding that set alight in the Grenfell Fire.

Mr Gyimah, a former Tory minister and banker who defected to the Lib Dems over Brexit, won 9,312 votes.

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Cries of "liar" and "terrorist" rang out as Mr McDonnell was giving his acceptance speech.

Police had to intervene to temper the disturbance.

The Shadow Chancellor said: "It is quite clear that there are fears also now for our democracy and the rise of the extreme right.

"But I say now we will organise and we will ensure this type of democracy will reign, and the democratic wishes of our people will be respected, and this sort of extreme right wing violence will not be tolerated within our society."

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