Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone has predicted that Haringey s Liberal Democrats are less than two years away from taking over the running of the borough s council. In a statement issued to celebrate a decade of election success by the Lib D

Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone has predicted that Haringey's Liberal Democrats are less than two years away from taking over the running of the borough's council.

In a statement issued to celebrate 'a decade of election success' by the Lib Dems, she said: "I learned a huge amount as a Haringey councillor. Standing up in the Haringey council chamber to 54 aggressive and heckling Labour councillors made speaking in the House of Commons seem like a breeze. But the reasons we stood then are just as relevant now. We still face a Labour council incapable of listening to the residents of Haringey. The cherry of the top of the cake will be taking the council in 2010."

In May 1998, Lynne Featherstone, June Andersen and Julia Glenn took three Haringey council seats to become the official opposition on the council.

The party now has 26 Haringey councillors, and believes it is within touching distance of a historic victory in the next council elections.

Former councillor Julia Glenn, one of the first Muswell Hill councillors, says:

"We really were a shock to the Labour strangle-hold on the borough. Haringey was one of the worst performing councils in the country, and the Opposition Tories were on the way out. Labour simply weren't used to any form of democratic scrutiny or anyone challenging the poor performance of the council they ran."

"When I look at our local MP Lynne Featherstone, our 26 councillors and what they have achieved, I am so proud to have been part of the team that lit the fuse, and ended Haringey's One Party State.

" It has really put the Labour council under pressure. Forty years is far too long to run a council and if they don't shape up, they'll be out. That's how it should be.