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FORMER Town Hall chief Catherine West has praised the “vibrant” Labour Party activists who helped her to victory in Hornsey and Wood Green. Ms West, who led Islington Council for three years until October 2013 and headed up the Labour group in opposition for six years prior to that, was one of six Labour parliamentary candidates with a link to Islington who stood in last week’s general election.She was elected as the MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, taking the seat with a majority of 11,000 and unseating former Liberal Democrat government minister Lynne Featherstone – a victory she put down to a strong local campaign and the collapse of the Lib Dem vote.She told the Tribune: “We’ve had such a good result because we had such a large group of people campaigning on the important issues – the NHS, the future of our young people and the housing question. We were very grateful for the help we received from Labour activists in Islington, Camden and elsewhere. Our message was well received across the constituency, and that was down to the fact that we had such a vibrant campaign.”Ms West said that the issues she will campaign on in the House of Commons will include housing, inequality and the future of young people.Other Labour candidates with a link to Islington included Jessica Asato, a former Labour councillor who was thought to have had a good chance against Conservative incumbent Chloe Smith in Norwich North. However Ms Asato lost by 4,500 votes, a defeat she described as “gut-wrenching”.Labour also lost in Lincoln – a seat they were expected to win – where former Holloway councillor Lucy Rigby failed to unseat the Tory incumbent Karl McCartney. Ms Rigby had quit the council in 2012 after just two years in office and moved to Lincoln. She was seen leaving the count looking distraught.The pattern of Labour candidates failing to take Tory marginal seats continued with Uma Kumaran in Harrow East. Ms Kumaran had resigned as staff member in the Islington Labour group in December last year to fully concentrate on her campaign, but she lost to Conservative Bob Blackman by a margin of 4,757 votes. Charlynne Pullen, a former Islington Labour councillor who stood in the Tory safe seat of Mid Beds lost to the incumbent and former I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! contestant Nadine Dorries.Asked this week why Labour in Islington produced so many candidates, council leader Richard Watts said: “We have an active and engaged party in Islington. We are open to new ideas and new people and we have attracted high-calibre councillors over the years.”Two former Liberal Democrat councillors also ran unsuccessfully for parliament. Marisha Ray lost in Chipping Barnet, while Rhodri Jamieson-Ball came fourth in Thurrock. Both constituencies remained Conservative.