Green party threat to Labour in London laid bare in Starmer’s own back yard

In Highgate New Town, a north London housing estate whose brutalist architecture has been a fixture of film shoots, the enormous scale of the challenge Labour faces in the capital from the Greens was starkly evident. “I’ve always voted Labour . My entire family has, but it feels like a time for a change,” said Cynthia Boampong after opening her door to Lorna Jane Russell, for now the only Green member on the local Camden council but who could be returned after 7 May at the head of a much larger group. With support for Zack Polanski’s party expected to surge across the capital, nearby Hackney council is tipped to be the centre of a realignment of progressive voters, with polling suggesting the Greens could take the mayoralty and end up the largest party. The Labour bastions of Lambeth and Lewisham are also under siege. But Camden – a diverse borough with some of London’s most affluent neighbourhoods as well as pockets of deprivation – carries particular symbolism: it is home to Keir Starmer’s own constituency of Holborn and St Pancras. Labour activists knocking on doors across the borough report being regularly confronted with Starmer’s unpopularity – one activist confessed to being taken by surprise at the sometimes “visceral” attitude. But they also face the usual anti-incumbent mood and local concerns. …