Highgate by-election: Four candidates battle for seat vacated by Sian Berry
Camden residents go to the polls on 6 May. Photograph: Martin Deutsch
Four candidates are vying for election in Highgate ward after Sian Berry stood down to concentrate on her parliamentary campaign in Brighton.
The Green councillor was selected earlier this year to run for the Brighton Pavilion constituency in the next general election, after Caroline Lucas MP said she was quitting.
Berry steps down after nine years as a Camden councillor. She was the only Green on the council and also has a seat on the London Assembly.
It means voters in Highgate have a choice between Wakjira Feyesa for the Local Conservatives, Tricia Leman for Labour, Farrell Monk for the Liberal Democrats and former deputy mayor Lorna Russell, who is the Green candidate.
Highgate is the most northerly ward in Camden and is part of Keir Starmer’s Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary constituency.
It includes Dartmouth Park, areas of Highgate Village, and Hampstead Lane.
The by-election will be held on Thursday 30 November and the result will be known the following day.
It will be the first time residents in the ward will need to take photo ID with them to vote.
The successful candidate will join Labour’s Camron Aref-Adib and Anna Wright in representing the ward.
Feyesa is an actor and has volunteered in the community and wants to preserve Highgate’s character as an environmentally friendly and secure place.
Retired teacher and trade unionist Leman is a volunteer for the Highgate Society and wants to protect the environment in Highgate.
Monk stood as a candidate in the Bloomsbury ward in the 2022 full council elections. Labour retained the seat in the election.
He is involved in a podcast and video channel about Fulham FC and serves on the board of the Children’s Football Alliance.
Russell left Labour to join the Greens in 2021, sacrificing her chance to be last year’s Mayor of Camden.
She wanted to speak out more about issues including the controversial O2 development but lost her seat in the May 2022 council elections.
She stood as a Green candidate in the South Hampstead by-election in June, which was called after the Labour incumbent moved away for work. The seat was held by Labour.