LABOUR’S DEFEAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18768, 23 January 1923, Page 11

LABOUR’S DEFEAT

BRITISH MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 2. At the municipal elections held yesterday throughout England, Labour suffered a crushing defeat. The rout was most overwhelming in tho great industrial centres. There is hardly a single town or borough in England and Wales in which Labour has not lost seats. In many places its power has dwindled almost to The most extraordinary result of tho day was the clenn sweep of Southwark made by the ratepayers’ candidates. Southwark is that huge district south of London Bridge, and contains one of tho largest workingclass populations in London. In tho last council Labour held SO seats, but every one of tho 60 seats has been captured by the anti-Socialist candidates. Another very striking result was seen in Camberwell, in which Labour formerly held 32 out of 60 seats. In the new council it holds only nine. The Municipal Reformers go back 38 strong, while 13 Independents have been returned. At Greenwich the Municipal Reformers have secured 15 of the seats, the Progressives 7, and Lalfbnr only retains 8. In the old council Labour had 20 members, and Municipal Reform 10. In Shoreditch tho Labour Party were routed, only retaining 10 seats, as against 31 in the old. The Progressives, with 17 seats, are the predominant party, tho Municipal Reformers following with 14. One Independent was elected. In Fulham a Labour majority of 12 has been turned into a Municipal Reform majority of 34. In this borough the Labour Party have been almost entirely swept off the board, only retaining one seat. In Lewisham they failed to return a single member. Lewisham, however, does not represent a Municipal Reform victory, except in so far as its 14 Independent members have disappeared. It had only nine Labour members in the last council. In Deptford, where on the olej council Labour had a majority of three against all other parties combined, it now holds only 18 seats out of 36. East and West, North and South, the story is the same. Six seats here, three seats there, all fell before the determination of the ratepayers that in future they would place the management of their affairs in the hands of sane administrators, rather than idealists and spendthrifts. In a word, the Labour members have been tried and found wanting. They have been turned down by their own class, and in the coming Parliamentary elections there is every probability that Labour, which lias put forward an extreme Socialistic platform, will suffer a similar defeat.