2026 must be the year Southwark chooses change
Labour has run Southwark Council for sixteen years.
Sadiq Khan has been the London Labour Mayor for a decade.
And the country now has a Labour Government too.
At the last General Election, people were promised change. What many residents in Southwark are feeling instead is disappointment.
Everyday life under Labour feels harder than it should. Families are being priced out of the borough they grew up in. Schools are closing because we are not building enough genuinely affordable homes. Getting even basic issues sorted by the council can be slow, frustrating and opaque.
After sixteen years, Labour has run out of excuses.
Southwark’s housing crisis shows this clearly. Council housebuilding has ground almost to a halt, despite the housing waiting list reaching 21,000. The Government’s own Regulator of Social
Housing has found “serious failings” in how Southwark is run - a damning verdict on Labour’s record of managing and maintaining council homes. Too many estates are left to deteriorate, while residents wait months for simple repairs that should take days.
Crime and antisocial behaviour are rising. Southwark has one of the highest crime rates in London, yet Labour has overseen cuts to police services and local facilities. At the same time, parks and green spaces are neglected, and young people are left without the youth services they need to thrive.
The council’s finances are also in trouble. Labour’s own government is leaving Southwark facing a £90 million funding black hole over the next few years. They’re baked in Tory austerity until the end of the decade. Without a change of direction, residents will end up paying the price through poorer services and higher costs.
It is important to be clear about the choice in May. Only two parties have ever run Southwark Council: Labour and the Liberal Democrats. That will remain the case after the election. There is no protest vote - only a real decision about who you trust to run the borough.
The Liberal Democrats believe Southwark can do better. We would push to restart council housebuilding at scale and force developers to deliver 50% affordable housing. We would take community safety seriously, backing visible policing, doubling community safety wardens and investing properly in youth services.
We would protect residents from the cost of living by keeping council tax low and freezing council tax for those most struggling. We would invest in parks and green spaces so communities can be proud of them again. And we would bring the council back into neighbourhoods, with real local contact points where residents can speak to a person and get problems sorted.
This is our biggest election campaign in decades, and we are confident that change is possible.
Only the Liberal Democrats can fix Southwark. Please lend us your support in May.
Originally published in Southwark News
