Southwark Liberal Democrats Launch 2022 Manifesto, Demanding Better

The Southwark Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto on Friday, which demands better for Southwark after over a decade of Labour letting residents down.

It contains policies to make Southwark the greenest borough in London, to tackle the housing crisis and that would put communities at the heart of everything the council does.

These policies include proposals to provide free membership for Southwark residents to use cycle-hire, requiring 50% genuinely affordable housing on all private developments and employing 100 community wardens to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Other policies range from hiring mental health counsellors in every school to expanding the council’s hardship fund so that all struggling Southwark households can access it amid a cost-of-living crisis.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto follows 12 years of Labour rule in which the administration presided over an explosion of the council homes waiting list to over 16,000 households.

Between 2010-2020, Labour demolished or sold close to 4,000 council homes. Recent figures have revealed that in the last four years they have only built 166 new council properties.

The Labour council dithered and delayed on the climate emergency when it took two and a half years to publish its climate change strategy, which environmental campaigners then slammed.

While, in spite of high crime rates in Southwark, Labour also slashed community warden numbers by 74% from 2010 to 2021.

The full manifesto is available on www.southwark-libdems.org.uk/plan_for_southwark

Commenting, Cllr Hamish McCallum, Southwark Liberal Democrat Group Leader said:

“We demand better from our council in the key areas that Southwark residents care about: housing, climate change and community. We know that Southwark should be an affordable place to live, with residents being more involved in shaping what goes on around them. Sadly, Labour has spent twelve years ignoring the voices of our constituents and has dithered and delayed on issues like climate change. The Liberal Democrats are the only party that can beat Labour in Southwark.”