Sian Berry is running for parliament in Brighton

THE Greens last night (Wednesday) fired the starting gun on a by-election battle in one of Camden’s last contested wards. Sian Berry, the only Green councillor in the Town Hall chamber, said she was leaving to concentrate on being the party’s parliamentary candidate in Brighton Pavilion.

She is hoping to defend the south-coast constituency currently held by Caroline Lucas, who is herself stepping down from the House of Commons.

Highgate has been split for many years between two Labour councillors and one Green with Cllr Berry consistently repelling attempts to unseat her and voters doing their own electoral maths before heading to the ballot box.

In a letter to ward residents, Cllr Berry said: “I am very sad to be writing to say that I will be resigning from the council on Friday October 20. The work I have done here in the ward – alongside the incredible range of local resident groups we have in Highgate – has been so rewarding and enjoyable.”

In a farewell article published in today’s New Journal, she said there had been achievements and victories to celebrate but too often the Labour majority at the Town Hall looked to stifle debate or did not call her to speak.

Labour has total control of the council and chamber after a landslide victory at last year’s borough­wide elections and has already been campaigning in anticipation that Cllr Berry might leave the chamber as she spends more time on the campaign trail in Brighton.

SEE ALSO SIAN BERRY: A PRIVILEGE, THE MOST REWARDING JOB OF MY LIFE 

Labour’s regeneration chief, Councillor Danny Beales, is also standing for parliament away from Camden but has not stepped down from the council.

He is both a cabinet member here and an election candidate in Uxbridge and South Ruislip where he has registered his permanent address.

Cllr Berry is also a London Assembly member and has previously said she will stand again unless she is elected as an MP before then. There is speculation about the date of a general election but prime minister Rishi Sunak more or less has to call one next year.
Cllr Berry was first elected to Camden in 2014 and is the borough’s longest-serving Green councillor. The party once held all three seats in the Highgate ward.

The former deputy mayor of Camden, Lorna Russell, has been announced as the Green candidate for the by-election.

She lives on the Holly Lodge Estate where residents are furious that fire escape routes to the roofs have been locked up by the council and a demonstration was unfolding outside the community centre last night (Wednesday) as the New Journal went to press.