London borough elections have never before taken place on the same day as a general election. As the national campaign rumbles on, more than 1,900 council seats are being fought.
Given the importance of council services, the borough contests are at least as crucial to Londoners as the general election.
Much is being made about the Lib-Dem "surge" at national level. In fact, London has long been an increasingly plural city. Labour and the Tories together won over 92 per cent of all votes in the 1971 borough elections, with the Lib-Dems on just 4.2 per cent.
By 2006, when the last elections took place, the Lab/Con vote had slumped to 73 per cent, with the Lib-Dems above 20 per cent. "Others", including Greens, Respect, the BNP, Residents and various kinds of independents have also been making progress, jointly scoring a record 17 per cent in 2006.
Traditional two-party politics has weakened enormously in London since the end of the Seventies. Some boroughs, such as Lewisham, Tower Hamlets and Camden, have ended up with the kind of result produced by proportional representation elections, but using the first-past-the-post system.
This year, it seems likely there will be more councillors representing smaller parties, unless the national contest between the three major ones creates a "squeeze". As always, London politics is highly contested and, as a result, healthy.
Tony Travers is Greater London group director at the LSE
