Trinity ward, the single seat that decides who runs Wandsworth Council, will go back to the polls on Thursday 27 August.
The seat is up for grabs after Cllr Lizzy Dobres resigned, two months after she was elected to hold it. She is moving to a politically restricted role that bars her from serving as a councillor and is expecting a baby. Her exit puts control of the whole council up for grabs.
The Conservatives run Wandsworth, but only just: 29 seats to Labour’s 28, with independent councillor Malcolm Grimston holding the balance. The Conservatives can only govern because Grimston backs them, in return for handing Labour three scrutiny committee chairs and a guaranteed voice at Cabinet. Win Trinity, and the Conservatives reach 30 seats: an outright majority, and the Grimston deal becomes unnecessary.
The Conservatives have already picked their fighter. Before the council has even published its official notice of election, Wandsworth Conservatives named Otto Jacobsson as their candidate.
A rerun candidate
Jacobsson is not a fresh face. He stood in Trinity in May, when the ward elected two councillors, and finished fourth: 1,518 votes, 324 behind Dobres and 129 behind his own running mate, Kirsten Botting, who won the second seat. Labour’s other candidate, Jack Mayorcas, missed out on that second seat by just 64 votes: the closest margin in the ward.
He has fought a by-election before, too. In Tooting Broadway in January 2024, he came a distant second to Labour on 19 per cent of the vote, after sending residents a leaflet, branded in red and titled “Freedom for Tooting,” which quoted fictional Marxist “Wolfie” Smith from 1970s sitcom Citizen Smith (it’s a long story) but never mentioned he was the Conservative candidate. He urged voters to “go on strike” by withholding their vote or backing someone else instead.
Jacobsson has been an officer of the Tooting Wandsworth Conservative Association since 2023. His campaign biography describes him as chief executive of YAP Global, a fintech and crypto communications firm where he was chief financial officer in 2024; it does not mention the Tooting Broadway contest.
No other party has named a candidate for Trinity as of writing.
Key dates
The council’s notice of election is due on Thursday 23 July. Anyone wanting to stand can submit nomination papers by appointment, between 10am on Friday 24 July and 4pm on Friday 31 July.
To vote, register by midnight on Tuesday 11 August. If you don’t have accepted photo ID, apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate by 5pm on Wednesday 19 August. Postal vote packs go out on 13 or 14 August, and must be returned by 10pm on polling day. Polling stations open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 27 August.
