COUNCIL leader Sarah Hayward declared Labour as a “shoo-in” to hold parliamentary seats next year in Camden after a storming success in last Thursday’s council elections.

Her group’s emphatic victory saw the party gain 10 new seats, cementing Labour’s position as the power party at the Town Hall and securing four more years in charge.

She said: “You have to look at Hampstead and Kilburn and think [parliamentary candidate] Tulip Siddiq is going to be a shoo-in for that seat. These are incredible results. I hope she goes on to hold the seat with an increased majority.”

Labour’s victory across Camden saw:

* an astonishing clean sweep in West Hampstead, a Lib Dem fortress where former council leader Keith Moffitt was unseated;

* two gains in Fortune Green, another Lib Dem-held ward;

* a 1-2-3 in Haverstock, again at the expense of the Lib Dems including local favourite Jill Fraser;

* the unseating of highly-regarded Lib Dem councillor Paul Braithwaite in Cantelowes;

* a return to three-seat dominance in Camden Town and Primrose Hill;

* the election of its youngest ever councillor in 22-year-old James Yarde in West Hampstead;

* a swing in its favour in Bloomsbury where three seats were held, despite being targeted by the Tories

* the Lib Dems collapse to just one councillor.

The only blow for the party was a failed mission to eliminate the Green Party from Camden’s council politics in the Highgate ward. There, cabinet councillor Valerie Leach lost her seat to the Greens’ Sian Berry after several recounts. The Greens took the second amount of votes in the south of the borough and declared themselves as the main opposition to Labour in Holborn and St Pancras.

It was the one black spot for Cllr Hayward, who added: “This is an amazing result for Labour. I think we’ve done a really good job that we can be proud of over the last four years in incredibly difficult circumstances. 

“We went to the electorate with a really positive agenda. The Lib Dems have shown they can build a coalition by being ‘anti’ a lot of things, but when forced to be for something in government, people didn’t like what they saw.”

Their domination was backed up in the European results, where voters were asked to choose their preferred party rather than candidates. The last time Camden voters did that in 2009, the parties were more or less neck and neck. 

This time, Labour scooped a share of the vote and were more than 10,000 ahead of the Tories, scores which saw former Kentish Town councillor Lucy Anderson clamber on board the train to the European Parliament.

The celebration was in stark contrast to the party’s abject display at the local polls in 2006 when Labour lost a 35-year grip on power to a Lib Dem and Conservative power-sharing pact. 

The last Lib Dem standing, Flick Rea, said: “I will still be a strong voice for Fortune Green and will stand up for you at the Town Hall, and I will shout, if necessary.

“We must never again lapse into the forgotten corner of the borough, just because we are so far from King’s Cross and Euston Road. This was the main reason I came into local politics in the first place, and the main reason I stay.”

Of the parliamentary battle ahead next year, Lib Dem candidate Maajid Nawaz said he had to bring his personality to the campaign and show the constituency what he could bring to politics. 

He said: “We need to increase our messaging, what we stand for. Nobody can accuse me of not having views. I’m very vocal about where I stand on liberalism. This is why swinging-vote Tories say they like me and Labour members have already said they will host dinners for me because they like my work.”

The Conservatives also gained from the Lib Dem collapse, picking up seats in Hampstead Town and Belsize, although they fell short on other targets.

Conservative whip Councillor Gio Spinella said: “The fact the Camden Conservatives picked up two seats is a good result, although I’d be lying if I said we didn’t want to do better. The fact is, the political geography of London has shifted.  We have to take stock of the changes and adapt our strategy. The result in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, in Camden and Brondesbury, showed us as the largest party in the constituency. It means we are in a good position for the parliamentary seat.”

Deputy chairman Oliver Cooper said: “It’s pretty clear now that there is only one opposition to Labour in Camden, and that’s the Conservatives. The Lib Dems have been wiped out because they could not stand up for their communities as they promised too.”

Ms Berry, a former London mayoral candidate, takes over from outgoing Green councillor Maya De Souza, who decided to step down after eight years on the council.

“It’s important that Camden has other voices apart from Labour at the council, and we worked hard in Highgate to keep our seat there,” said Ms Berry. 

“Maya has shown over the last four years what can be achieved even with one councillor, while the results today have shown Greens are becoming the main opposition to Labour in some parts of London. 

“If you look at Islington, it’s all Labour after today’s election – and one Green.”