The first set of results in the London Assembly elections are in. Credit: PA/Newsquest The Conservative Party has held the London Assembly constituency seat of West Central, as the first election results roll in. The constituency had been earmarked as a potential swing seat for Labour, but Conservative Tony Devenish narrowly defeated Labour’s Rita Begum to retain the seat he won in 2016. But the Conservative Party’s majority has fallen dramatically, from 14,564 in 2016 to just 2,225 in this year’s election. Elsewhere, the Conservatives comfortably retained the constituency seat of Bexley and Bromley, with Peter Fortune to take over the seat vacated by MP Gareth Bacon, beating Labour candidate Stefano Borella with 97,966 votes to 47,389.
The first set of results in the London Assembly elections are in. Credit: PA/Newsquest The Conservative Party has held the London Assembly constituency seat of West Central, as the first election results roll in. The constituency had been earmarked as a potential swing seat for Labour, but Conservative Tony Devenish narrowly defeated Labour’s Rita Begum to retain the seat he won in 2016. But the Conservative Party’s majority has fallen dramatically, from 14,564 in 2016 to just 2,225 in this year’s election. Elsewhere, the Conservatives comfortably retained the constituency seat of Bexley and Bromley, with Peter Fortune to take over the seat vacated by MP Gareth Bacon, beating Labour candidate Stefano Borella with 97,966 votes to 47,389.
By Joe Talora, local democracy reporter
The Government is coming under increasing pressure to reverse its decision to reopen schools in January as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.
Councils in London were threatened with legal action from the Government before Christmas for writing to schools asking them to close, but as Covid-19 cases continue to rise at an alarming rate, council leaders are calling for urgent action.
Conservative London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has this week also called for schools to stay closed and said that doing so “gives us a fighting chance” against the virus.
Mr Bailey said: “We must make the most of the Christmas break to defeat Covid-19 where we can.