Crofton Park by-election: Greens hold with wafer-thin majority
Lewisham Green Party candidate Esther Lie was elected with a majority of 10 votes, holding the seat which the Greens had won on 7 May.
Lewisham's Crofton Park by-election was triggered by the 7 May local elections - Liam Shrivastava, one of three Green Party candidates elected to sit for the ward, was also elected as Lewisham mayor and it is not permitted to hold both positions.
At Thursday's by-election, Esther Lie held the seat for the Greens by just 10 votes with Labour Party candidate Alex Brooks coming second.
The turnout was 27%.
Lie works in community organising relating to health inequalities and on climate action projects within schools.
The Greens became the majority on Lewisham council on 7 May, with 39 seats out of a total of 54, after decades of Labour control.
Esther Lie's election has increased the number of Green councillors to 40.
Lewisham council was under Labour Party control from 1971 until the recent local elections, with no opposition at all from 2018 until 2024.
Now Labour Party candidate Alex Brooks and Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Elliott stressed the need for a strong opposition to hold the new Green administration to account, in their election statements for the by-election.
Updated 19/6/26 at 10:50 with historical reference.
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