The good news is that around the country Labour has been getting great results in council by-elections. The results across all the council by-elections in July and August put us neck and neck with the Tories on 34% with the Lib/dems on 24%. Our catch-up with the Tories is remarkable in view of the fact that only 14 weeks ago in the General Election we were 8% behind the Tories. I strongly believe that support for the Government will ebb away even further as people see the risks that the Government is taking with the economy, when they feel the impact of the unfair VAT increase and the public service cuts.
Encouraging news is that new members are continuing to join the Labour Party. In Camberwell and Peckham we have gained 152 new members since May 6th. Across the country the party has gained 27,894 new members since May 6th. A third of these new members are people who have formerly supported the Lib/dems. Half are Labour voters who now believe that they must join to fight the Government and 10% have joined to take part in our leadership election.