Margot Lindsay, the Respect candidate for Faraday Ward in Southwark polled 359 votes. After an excellent campaign which started back in January, the Southwark Respect team gained 11 per cent of the vote -the best result in many years for a left candidate in Southwark.
Margot is a long-time tenant on the Aylesbury Estate where we stood. The Aylesbury is one of the largest council estates in Europe, and has suttered massive under-investment for many years.
Margot has previously campaigned against its privatisation when the LibDem controlled council tried, unsuccessfully, to transfer it to a registered social landlord in 2001. Wha doesn
Margot Lindsay
Two other housing campaigners also stood in the ward; Josefina Esteve and Lionel Wright, who polled 219 and 207 votes respectively.
It would obviously have been better to have stood three Respect candidates in the ward, although it was apparently decided in November only to stand one. It was unfortunately not possible to make an arrangement with the Independents.
Even so, the fact that Margot's vote was significantly bigger than any of the other left candidates indicates that Respect has the best profile and range of politics, and as a national organisation can gain more votes than either Independents or Greens.
There was an unexpected show from the Greens, who stood against Margot and gained 134 votes. Although some in the Greens assured Respect that they would not stand against us, the 'paper candidate' option the Greens used was unnecessary and Respect must try to dissuade them from doing this again in Southwark.
On balance, Respect in Southwark gained a healthy vote, well worth building on in the future.
The biggest mistake it could make is for activists to think that now the elections are over, we should move off the estate.
There is a huge battle ahead to save the estate, and by campaigning over local and national issues, Respect can become more rooted in the local community.