Published: 15 March 2013
By RICHARD OSLEY

CAMDEN'S Labour Party have won the Gospel Oak by-election at a breeze.

Its candidate Maeve McCormack was the runaway winner in the contest to find a replacement for Sean Birch, the council's former environment department chief whose resignation last month sparked the poll.

Labour already hold the other two seats in the ward, but an emphatic win sends out a warning shot to the Conservatives ahead of next year's boroughwide elections for places at the Town Hall.

The Tories briefy held Gospel Oak between 2006 and 2010 and need to claw back their Labour rivals if overall power is to shift again next May.

Labour strategists will be encouraged by the size of the victoty which members believe will show it is the government and not the local Labour authority which is getting blamed for cuts to public spending and benefits.

The Lib Dems slipped to fourth behind the Greens, blaming the result on the direction of resources towards the party's recent successful effort at holding Chris Huhne's old parliamentary constituency in Eastleigh.

RESULT

MAEVE MCCORMACK (LAB) elected 1272

LEILA ROY (CON) 419

CONSTANTINE BUHAYER (GREEN) 134

LAURA NOEL (LIB DEM) 132

JOHN REID (TRADE UNION AND SOCIALIST COALITION) 109

STEPHEN DORMAN (BNP) 57

TURNOUT: 27.16