IT'S A TWO HORSE RACE: Liberal Democrats come close to beating Labour across Southwark

5.23.04pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 9th Jun 2009

Liberal Democrats in Southwark are celebrating after coming the closest they have ever been to beating Labour across the borough in a European election. The Labour majority nearly halved with the Conservatives coming a distant third. The Conservative vote fell from 19.3% in the 2008 GLA election to 14.9% this year with more traditional Conservative supporters switching to the Lib Dems to beat Labour.

Liberal Democrat Campaign Manager Mark Gettleson said: "The results again show Southwark is a two-horse race between the Lib Dems and Labour - and that every Conservative and Green vote helps Labour win. This election is very encouraging for the positive community campaigns being fought by Simon Hughes in Bermondsey and by Jonathan Mitchell in Dulwich, where we believe we polled extremely well, having come second to Tessa Jowell in 2005 on one of the largest swings in the country."

Southwark European election results

VOTES

Labour 14958 27.98%

Liberal Democrat 12348 23.09%

Conservative 7951 14.87%

Green 7606 14.23%

UKIP 3645 6.82%

BNP 2174 4.07%

Others 4,785 8.95%

TOTAL 53467

MAJORITY 2610

SWING Lab to LD 2.20%