As the dust settles on the local elections, the Liberal Democrats are enjoying another key feature of the results – having beaten Labour across the Hornsey and Wood Green Parliamentary seat.

The news will come as a crushing blow to the local Labour party, and will make the seat a key battleground between the two parties at the next general election.

While the two parties were involved in a dead heat in terms of councillors, at 15 apiece, the much higher polling in the west of the borough left the Liberal Democrats as the largest party in the popular vote, on 35% to Labour’s 32%. The Tories trailed a distant third, with 16% of the votes and no councillors.

Newly-elected Lib Dem councillor for Highgate, Neil Williams, comments:

“We are very pleased to have outpolled Labour right across the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency. It certainly bodes very well for the next general election, where we will be looking to take the seat from Labour.”