Olivia Opara reports from today’s election count as Mark Grosskopf and Liam Carroll come out on top in South Tottenham and White Hart Lane respectively

By-election winners Mark Grosskopf (left) and Liam Carroll (right) (credit Olivia Opara)

The Labour candidates in both South Tottenham and White Hart Lane have secured their seats at Haringey Civic Centre following this week’s twin by-elections.

At the election count today (Thursday 5th), Mark Grosskopf and Liam Carroll were elected as the new councilors for South Tottenham and White Hart Lane wards respectively, replacing Charles Adje and Yvonne Say who both resigned in August for personal reasons.

Both Cllr Grosskopf and Cllr Carroll secured their seats with more than half of the votes cast in each by-election – retaining Labour’s strongholds in the South Tottenham and White Hart Lane wards. The party’s share of the votes in each ward also rose.

Labour won the South Tottenham by-election with 1,268 votes (67.7%) and the White Hart Lane by-election with 1,081 votes (58.7%).

Cllr Grosskopf expressed his “heartfelt gratitude” to his community, David Lammy MP, Haringey council leader Peray Ahmet and his Haringey Labour colleagues for “putting their trust” in him.

Cllr Grosskopf added: “The people of South Tottenham have spoken loud and clear and have chosen the Labour party. I have listened to the concerns of residents and rest assured that some of them are already being worked upon.”

Echoing these comments and giving thanks to his colleagues, Cllr Carroll said: “I am just really pleased that the voters of White Hart Lane have put their faith in me. It was a well run campaign and we knocked on the whole ward and learnt about a lot of the local issues and I can’t wait to get started.”

Cllr Ahmet said: “We are absolutely delighted. This is the fourth by-election in the last year-and-a-half and that’s four out of four so we are clearly doing something right in the borough. People are clear on our vision and the fact that we are heading the right direction.

“We are absolutely delighted for Mark and Liam. Mark is the first Haredi Jewish councilor in 50 years, so we are absolutely delighted for this representation of a very important community in our borough.

The Conservative Party came second in both by-elections, making vote gains with 286 votes (15.3%) in South Tottenham and 289 votes (15.7%) in White Hart Lane.

Conservative candidate Shloime Royde for South Tottenham sent his gratitude to South Tottenham residents, the local police and staff at the council and polling stations. He said: “It was an experience for me to speak on the doorsteps and I met so many people which has opened my eyes and I hope to put it to use in the very near future and I wish Mark all the best.”

Conservative candidate James Barton for White Hart Lane added: “‘I would like to thank everyone who voted for me and it’s been a great experience meeting the residents of White Hart Lane. We saw a big increase in our vote and look forward to continuing this momentum in the future.”

The Green Party came in third in both by-elections with 235 votes (12.6%) of South Tottenham and 247 votes (13.4%) in White Hart Lane. The Liberal Democrats came last with 71 votes (3.8%) in South Tottenham votes and 215 votes (11.7%) in White Hart Lane. No other parties stood candidates.

Liberal Democrat candidate David Vigoureaux, standing for White Hart Lane, told HCP that he was “really happy to speak with residents” and that it was “a real privilege”, adding: “Really happy to see the vote share increase but obviously it is not the result that we wanted.

“I am looking forward in the future to really show residents on White Hart Lane what Lib Dems are about, what we stand for and hopefully continuing to hold the Labour council to account.”

The overall turnout was 20.2% for South Tottenham and 19.7% for White Hart Lane.

South Tottenham by-election result:

Mark Grosskopf (Labour): 1268
Shloime Royde (Conservatives): 286
Jonathan McKinley (Green Party): 235
David Schmitz (Liberal Democrats): 71

Turnout: 1,872 (eleven spoilt votes)

White Hart Lane by-election result:

Liam Carroll (Labour): 1081
James Barton (Conservatives): 289
Friedrich Ernst (Green Party): 247
David Vigoureaux (Lib Dems): 215

Turnout: 1,843 (eleven spoilt votes)

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