As the result of the London Borough elections the con-
trol of two of the twenty-eight Councils changed hands. In Finsbury Labour gained a small majority. In Bethnal Green the new majority was Liberal. The Bethnal Green election was, indeed, by far the most remarkable in Lon-, don. Nine Socialists, eight Communists and one Munici- pal Reformer were turned out by the Liberals who captured the whole Council. There are now no Com- munists left in the London Borough Councils. Outside London Labour won many seats, but their gains affected the control of only one Council—Swindon. The Labour majority was retained in Barnsley, Barrow-in-Furness, Leigh, Merthyr Tydfil, St. Helens, Sheffield, Swansea, West Ham and Wigan. Labour and Liberal candidates made great play with the Government rating scheme, pretending to prove that rates would be raised every- where for the ordinary ratepayer. The moral seems to be that the Government should apply themselves imme- diately to a simple exposition of the method of relieving industry. *
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