Congratulations to Dr Ben Johnson the Liberal Democrat candidate for running such a good campaign. Sadly he didn’t win. This was an important by-election. Not because it would change which party leads the council – it couldn’t – but for sending the message that the Elephant & Castle regeneration mustn’t be a sell out as Labour appear hell-bent on doing.

The results on a 25% turnout was:

Labour – 1259 – Rebecca Lury

Lib Dems – 1003 – Dr Ben Johnson

Conservative – 94 – Stuart Millson

I fear for Southwark Labour its back to the same groove with no lessons learnt.