London

With Thursday's London results finally counted [why did it take so long?], I congratulate Boris Johnson on his election as Mayor of London and Richard Tracey on his success in being elected to represent Putney at City Hall.

I particularly want to pay tribute to Ken Livingstone's eight years' service as Mayor. As Boris Johnson acknowledged in his victory speech, Ken has devoted his life to London and, agree or disagree, as London's first Mayor has developed the position into one of substance, influence and international significance.

There is no doubt that our mayoral system is here to stay and that has a lot to do with the success Ken has made of the job. in 2000 when he was first elected many considered London's competition to be Frankfurt or Paris. Today it is with New York.

I'm pleased that Mayor Johnson has announced his top priorities are building further on Ken's public transport and policing improvements. But the campaign is over: now is the time for delivery. And no-one, whether you voted for him or not, can know what Boris intends to do, because beneath the soundbites, he was silent on substance. Four key questions will soon have to be answered:

• How will Boris cut council tax while, at the same time, increase spending on buses and policing?
  
• Will Boris really stand up to the Tory council locally and veto the high-rise monstrosities being planned for East Putney?
  
• How committed is he to retaining Putney's 40 Safer Neighbourhood Police officers?
  
• With his promise to scrap all affordable housing targets - and a Tory council locally champing at the bit to build zero affordable homes - how will he help Putney families face the housing crisis?

Since Thursday, much has - rightly - been made of the thoroughly dreadful result Labour was handed. But the result locally was actually pretty decent: the swing against us: just 1.3% was the lowest in any Conservative-won London Assembly seat. And this after thousands and thousands of luxury penthouses have been stacked up by the Conservative council across our borough.

In fact, Labour's Leonie Cooper (an excellent candidate who fought a terrific campaign) received more votes this year in losing than the Tories got four years ago when they won. Of course we lost and that's ultimately what matters but it does show that a hard-fought campaign, maintaining a presence locally and getting our vote out can have an impact, even in Labour's worst-ever year. That will continue to be our focus here in Putney over the next two years.