Lib Dems Set to Make Gains in Kensington & Chelsea

3.31.03pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 26th Apr 2006

The Local Elections take place in Kensington & Chelsea on 4th May. All over the Borough, residents are turning to the Liberal Democrats.

In certain wards, residents who have been let down by Labour are turning to the Lib Dems for a fresh start, with a local recognition that the Tories are out of the running and that every vote will count in the two-horse race between the Labour incumbents and their Lib Dem challengers.

Meanwhile, in some of the wards that are currently represented by the Conservatives, Labour look set to come in third place (just like they did at the General Election in 2005) as the battle heats up between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives for first and second place.

The illegal war in Iraq and its disastrous aftermath, the introduction of detention without trial, the draconian ID cards scheme, the failure to stick to their own CO2 emissions targets and the Loans for Peerages scandal - all of these things have turned people off Labour nationally, while locally they have run out ideas for our community. Increasingly, they are looking like a spent force in our Borough.

Meanwhile, the Tories are reduced to trying to ape us on the environment and have lately discovered themselves as the party of civil liberties. Well, people do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

We are the only party with the momentum behind us and a clear expectation of an increase in vote share as we prepare for the formation of a Lib Dem group on the Council.

With 48 candidates across the Borough, the Lib Dems are campaigning:

• To Build a new, secular, secondary school in North Kensington to combat the dreadful shortage of secondary school places.

• For ZERO municipal waste: we are the only green party with a chance of getting elected councillors on 4th May.

• To re-open and save the Tabernacle Community Centre in North Kensington with decent funding and a sustainable future.

• To save local post offices and open new ones through a £2 billion national Lib Dem scheme which frees the Post Office Ltd from the Royal Mail Group by moving to a shared ownership model for Royal Mail and keeping the Post Office in the public sector.

• To increase the credibility of public consultations so that they are truly transparent exercises of local democracy with decisions being taken at the most local level possible.

• To KEEP the Congestion Charge in Central London where it works and not bring the zone in to Kensington & Chelsea which will dilute the entire benefit of it.