Wharf election analysis - john biggs excels in assembly vote

By John Hill on May 5, 2008 1:07 PM |

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FOR ISLAND voters, the first fruits of their labours trickled in at around noon with the election of a new Millwall councillor.

A mere 12 hours later, over a million capital-dwellers had ushered a new face into City Hall.

The Wharf chased the action from Royal Docks to Tower Bridge as Ken Livingstone's eight-year reign as Mayor came to an end.

John Biggs ExCeLs in Assembly vote

City and East incumbent John Biggs will get the chance to celebrate a decade representing the constituency in two years time.

The former Tower Hamlets Council leader increased his share of the vote from 29 per cent to nearly 35 per cent on Friday (May 2), fending off a challenge from Blackwall and Cubitt Town's Conservative councillor Phil Briscoe.

Cllr Briscoe led in the very early stages of the count, but was significantly behind for much of the late afternoon, finishing with just over half of his opponent's total.

With a voter turnout of around 40 per cent, John Biggs grabbed 63,635 votes to storm back to City Hall, while Cllr Briscoe managed 32,082. George Galloway's wing of Respect were third with 26,760, while the BNP were fourth with 18,020.

As with everywhere else in the capital, the count took considerably longer than expected. The City and East result was ambitiously projected to arrive around "mid-afternoon", but it wasn't until 10pm that the victor stepped up to the podium. In this case, the constituency count was completed quicker than any other at the ExCeL centre in Royal Docks, but difficulties printing out the results contributed to a 45-minute delay. In the meantime, Bexley and Bromley were first to call their winner. James Cleverly of the Conservative party winning 51.83 per cent of the vote, more than 35 per cent more than Labour's Alex Heslop with 14.75 per cent.

Ken Livingstone also won the mayoral nod in City and East, gaining 94,921 votes (52.2 per cent of the vote) to Boris Johnson's 49,666 (27.22 per cent).

John Biggs, who first won the City and East Assembly seat in 2000, said: "It's been a considerable swing back to Labour and a very positive result for East London. The people of East London have given a massive vote of confidence in the work of Ken Livingstone and the party over the last eight years."

Cllr Briscoe commented on "the sheer scale of the constituency" following his campaign.

He said: "It's been hard work for the last few months. "The campaign has reinforced my concerns about the raw deal East London gets from politicians. Most people aren't really aware of what the Greater London Assembly is.
"But the result has increased our vote by nearly 10,000 from four years ago. We've done our share in this area in securing a victory for Boris in City Hall."

Nearby Greenwich and Lewisham also plumped for Ken Livingstone over Boris Johnson by 50,105 votes to 36,051, and elected Len Duvall to the Assembly by more than 16,000 votes. Cllr Briscoe's wife Shirley Houghton, a councillor in neighbouring Millwall, was third in Lambeth and Southwark with 32,835 votes. Winner Valerie Shawcross of Labour gained 60,601 votes.

The Conservatives have 11 seats in the assembly, with Labour on eight, the Liberal Democrats on three, the Green party on two, and the British National Party on one. The BNP's Richard Barnbrook will take up one of the Assembly's seats after attracting 5.3 per cent of the vote.