Labour party making play for affluent of London in elections

Stephen Castle LONDON — From her doorstep in the exclusive Knightsbridge district of London, Christine Cotter dismissed the idea of voting for Britain’s opposition Labour Party in elections on Thursday, describing its left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn, as a “dreamer” whose policies would bankrupt the country.

But in the rare spring sunshine, Cotter added that, even in her area of multimillion-dollar properties, not everyone shared her views about Labour.

“There is fear that they could win in Westminster,” said Cotter, referring to her affluent district, which will be among those to hold local council elections Thursday. She noted Corbyn’s following among younger voters: “He’s selling a dream,” said Cotter, 71, a semiretired psychotherapist.

In theory, the voting on Thursday is about local, not national, issues, but with Britain’s electorate in a volatile mood, the results will be watched closely. Were the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Theresa May to lose control of bastions like Westminster or the borough of Wandsworth, it could embolden those opposed to leaving the European Union and renew speculation about a challenge to May, whose leadership has been questioned since she lost her parliamentary majority in June.

Since its creation in 1965, the Westminster municipality has served some of London’s most moneyed neighborhoods, never once falling into Labour’s hands.

But May’s government is mired in tortuous negotiations on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the process known as Brexit, and it was hit on Sunday by the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd. That fragility has put even the most redoubtable of the party’s strongholds under siege in municipal elections.

“Westminster and Wandsworth have an iconic resonance for Conservative activists which is well beyond their importance,” said John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. “If both of these were to be lost, there probably would be a bit of a wobble.”

May had steadied matters through what many saw as her sound handling of the reaction to the poisoning of Russian former spy Sergei V. Skripal, but her government is now embroiled in a scandal over the treatment of immigrants from the Caribbean who have lived in Britain for decades. Then there are the Brexit negotiations, which have proved messy and painful.

Under Britain’s system, local elections take place only in some parts of the country every year — this time only in England and mostly in urban areas.

May’s Conservatives are braced for losses in London, which voted in the 2016 referendum to remain in the European Union, and in other metropolitan centers where voters are generally more at ease with the impact of globalization. European citizens living in Britain can vote in these elections, unlike in the Brexit referendum.

But there are also opportunities for the Conservatives, who hope to make gains in smaller urban centers that largely supported the exit from the European Union that May promises to deliver.

“Brexit has certainly disrupted our politics,” Curtice said, noting that there was “substantial divergence between Remain and Leave voting areas in England.”

By contrast, if there is a risk for Labour in London, it is that expectations are so high that a moderately good result would be seen as a disappointment.

In recent memory, the party has not even bothered to campaign in affluent districts like Knightsbridge, but now in London there are “no no-go areas for Labour,” according to Steven Saxby, 47, the party’s parliamentary candidate for the area at the next general election.