‘It’s mound what won Westminster for Labour’

THE first Labour leader of Westminster council today told how seizing key wards surrounding the Marble Arch Mound swept the party to power in a tide of anger over the £6 million white elephant.

Adam Hug, 41, said Labour’s win in the council elections on May 5 came after his party unexpectedly won in wards where it had rarely or never been successful before. He said the gains that ensured Labour toppled the Conservatives as majority party were in areas where Tory voters felt most disillusioned about the project.

Mr Hug told the Standard: “People had an awareness of it, it wasn’t on every door but it was a significant talking point on the campaign trail and the more so the closer you got to it. In some of the wards of Bayswater, Lancaster Gate, West End, Hyde Park, basically the ring around the Mound that Westminster Labour won, if you look at that, proximity to the mound was definitely a thing. It was just emblematic of a council that lost its way and was wasting money at a time when money was short.”

Mr Hug added: “We’re going to do a thorough examination of how the council operates, making sure that its systems and processes are effective.”

He said the authority would look at a number of “smaller scale interactive things that will bring a bit of vitality back. We’re not going to build another mound, I can give you that promise.”