Hackney voters show Labour's London challenge

While Andy Burnham begins his first Labour conference as Prime Minister, voters in parts of London say their focus is less on party politics and more on the cost of everyday life.

In Hackney, the once Labour strong-hold, locals told Politics London of their financial worries and disillusionment with politics.

Market trader Les said he neither cared about the party conference, nor did he vote. The greengrocer, who has been trading at Ridley Road for 45 years, said that food prices had become "expensive", adding: "But we've got to get on with it. That's life."

Others in the market said they were worried about the cost of living in the coming months, including the price of energy, food and rent.

Hackney was a Labour stronghold for much of the last half a century until May's local elections, when it became one of the boroughs the party lost.

The Green Party won the borough's mayoral election with a 47.2% share of the votes, and took control of the council after it won 42 of the available 57 seats.

Labour lost 41 seats on the council in the election.

The Green Party saw the biggest gains from Labour's losses in London, and also took Lewisham and Waltham Forest.

Jenevieve Treadwell, policy fellow at London School of Economics, said Labour was facing pressures from different parties in different parts of London.

In inner London, she said, Labour's biggest challenge came from the Green Party. In outer London, it was Conservatives in all areas, the Lib Dems in the south west, and Reform in east London.

"One of the key challenges that Labour has to win back support in London is to stop talking down the capital," she said.

"There have been years of negative commentary around the state of the capital, the amount of attention it takes away from other places in the UK and I think that can wear down a Londoner."

Mapps Cafe owner Hussein Hussein, who is known as H, said his rent had recently risen by £6,500.

"The electric bill's going up, the gas bill's going up, the water bill's going up," he said.

"There's nothing that comes down, unfortunately."

He said customers were often "moaning" about rising prices in their businesses, adding that many people are concerned about their finances.

"I've got people that sell forklifts that can't sell forklifts because there's no money in the country," he said.

"I got moaning builders, always moaning about prices going up.

"We're worried about the war in Ukraine, we're worried about the war in Iran, we're worried about the war here in this country. Everybody's pocket has got a hole in it."

For Burnham, weakening Labour support can be seen in Hackney, where some voters are switching allegiance and others are abandoning politics altogether.

As conference begins in Liverpool, the question is whether Labour's message still resonates in the capital.

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