The first by-election of the new council came earlier than anyone expected as one of Tulse Hill’s councillors stood down after just 17 days.  Labour quickly chose the excellent Ruth Ling as our candidate to contest the vacant seat in polls that will take place on 1 July.

Ruth is a highly experienced and well regarded former councillor. She represented Clapham Common for 16 years despite Labour winning our lowest share of the vote there in the whole borough for several successive elections. The fact Ruth held on in those circumstances for so long is a tribute to her personal popularity and hard work. The demographics finally beat her last May when she narrowly lost her seat. Her early return in the Tulse Hill by-election would be good news not only for the residents of Tulse Hill who would gain a doughty champion, but for positive politics across Lambeth.

Ruth is fighting an energetic campaign in Tulse Hill, despite a sense of election-weariness from some voters who are a little surprised at being asked to vote again so soon. Ruth points out that there’s much at stake for the area. As the Tory-Lib Dem coalition Government starts making cuts it’s been alarming to learn from one of their own front-benchers that the cuts will be targeted on inner-city areas like Tulse Hill where there are higher numbers of poor people. For the Lib Dems, a party that once claimed to stand for fairness, such a blatantly unfair approach to cutting services really does expose their lack of principles. A vote locally for the Lib Dems would only encourage their MPs to believe they can get away with this kind of unfairness.

There are some big local issues too. Kerb crawling is a problem in some parts of the area, and Ruth is campaigning for action to stop kerb-crawlers and help prostitutes get off the streets so they can get their lives back in order. That campaign has strong support from local people who almost universally oppose the Lib Dems’ controversial call to legalise kerb crawling. Labour’s campaign for a new secondary school in the area is another important issue. After the previous Lib Dem-run council left 500 children without a secondary school place Labour’s pushed forward plans to open new schools. To their shame the Lib Dems are opposing the plans, disgracefully trying to win votes by claiming that schoolchildren will bring violence and crime to the area. How short-sighted of them, when surely it’s a decent education that gives young people the grounding they need to live a full and useful life and stop them going off the rails.

Ruth’s getting strong local support on the doorsteps, as well as some high profile celebrity backing. Former Blur drummer Dave Rowntree came along to support her campaign, as did the two contenders to be Labour’s next London mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone and Oona King.

The Lib Dem campaign seems particularly lack-lustre, with few supporters out on the streets and some particularly unpleasant leaflets that one local commentator has slammed for being ‘vile and disgusting’. Ruth’s putting forward a clear plan for Tulse Hill, it’s a shame the Lib Dems prefer to play gutter- politics rather than meet Labour’s challenge head-on. I’m glad Ruth’s rising above that and insisting on fighting a campaign that’s both positive and principled.

Positive and principled: Labour's Ruth Ling (third from left) with supporters in Tulse Hill