Barnet’s blushes were slightly spared as Andrew Dismore held his seat on the London Assembly by a comfortable enough majority to hold off calls for Barnet to re-run the borough’s election.
Mr Dismore has been the Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden since 2012, and overcame challenges from four opponents to achieve a 15,000 majority over his nearest rival.
Had the result been close, Barnet could have faced demands for another election after its polling day fiasco, where incomplete lists of voters were delivered to all 155 of the borough’s polling stations.
Some voters were unable to cast their vote in the morning, and although the problem was fixed by 10.40am, not all residents were able to return to the polling stations later in the day.
Results for GLA elections in Barnet and Camden:-
Andrew Dismore (Labour) - 81,482
Joseph Langton (UKIP) - 9,057
Zack Polanski (Lib Dem) - 11,204
Stephen Taylor (Green Party) - 16,996
Daniel Thomas (Conservative) - 65,242
Mr Dismore used his acceptance speech at Alexandra Palace to thank the Jewish community after the recent rows over anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, and called for Ken Livingstone to be booted out of the party.
He said: “I especially give my thanks to members of the Jewish community who have stood by me in spite of all the allegations of anti-Semitism in the Jewish community.”
He promised that he would fight against anti-Semitism and that he was pleased the electorate had not been swayed by Mr Livingstone’s “vile” remarks.
He said: “It’s time for him to be chucked out of the party once and for all.”
He thanked the returning officer in Camden for a “trouble free” election, but said the returning officer in Barnet would have “to do an awful lot better” next time around.
He said: “This is Barnet council at its worse. The council cuts, privatisation, a complete lack of scrutiny by council officers and ... also senior members of the council itself.”
Mr Dismore said he looked forward to working with Mr Khan and implementing his plans for London on housing transport and policing.
He added that above all, he was glad that Londoners had seen through what he called Mr Goldsmith’s “anti-Muslim, Islamaphobic campaign”.
Mr Dismore said of Mr Khan’s victory: “I am delighted to see that London has a Labour mayor again. He (Mr Khan) has been a little fella who has punched way above his weight.”
Defeated Conservative candidate Dan Thomas left the Palace as soon as the result was announced and did not make a speech. Mr Dismore said that his opponent had been largely “invisible” throughout the campaign.
The mayoral election results for Barnet and Camden were much closer than Mr Dismore’s victory over Tory Dan Thomas, with winner Sadiq Khan polling just under 41 per cent of votes cast and Mr Goldsmith on just over 40 per cent.
Mayoral Election results for Barnet and Camden:-
Sadiq Khan (Labour) 74,927
Zac Goldsmith (Conservative) 73,722
Sian Berry (Green) 11,238
Caroline Pidgeon (Liberal Democrats) 7858
Peter Whittle (UKIP) 4446
Sophie Walker (Women’s Equality Party) 4403
George Galloway (Respect) 2095
Paul Golding (Putting) Britain First) 1428
Lee Eli Harris (Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol) 1378
Prince Zylinski 760
David Furness (British National Party) 601
Ankit Love (One Love Party) 267
In the third election of the day, to elect members of the London Assembly through the party’s “list” candidates, the result was also close in Barnet and Camden - in contrast to the London-wide results, where Labour won convincingly. Labour polled 67,567 votes in Barnet and Camden, ahead of the Conservatives on 65,846, the Green Party on 15558 and the Liberal Democrats on 10,508.
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