As millions of voters go to the polls in Britain today, Jahdia Spencer will be dashing around southeast London making a final push for victory on behalf of the nation’s ruling party.

The 27-year-old Bermudian, who was elected as a Labour councillor in a by-election in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in December 2024, is intent on repeating her success in today’s full council election, as well as helping her party colleagues standing in neighbouring areas.

“I'm out in the morning in my area, but then I am helping my other colleagues who are in, I guess you could say, shakier seats,” she told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

“I'm known to be like a machine with canvassing, so I would definitely be probably out around the entire borough by the end of the day.”

She added of her time in office so far: “It's really been a whirlwind but I love it. I think I was made for this.”

Ms Spencer’s West Thamesmead seat is one of 55 in Greenwich and more than 5,000 in England, which are up for grabs in the hotly contested local council elections.

The results, along with those in the devolved government elections in Scotland and Wales, will be seen as an indication of the nation’s satisfaction ― or otherwise ― with beleaguered Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour government.

The polls suggest Labour could be in for a trouncing in London. Ms Spencer said: “The polls do show one thing, but it’s up to local councillors to really show that report card of what they've done.

“Over in Greenwich, we’ve invested in more SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] centres and really improved the roads.

“We have £5 million to tackle fly tipping and have improved so much across the area.”

She said she just received a letter from Sir Keir “thanking us for our hard work, highlighting how difficult it is and encouraging us to keep going.

“Last week, [former deputy prime minister] Angela Rayner … came down as well and gave some words of wisdom.”

Ms Spencer said: “It was great meeting her. It really meant a lot to feel the support from our national MPs.

“With just five days to go until the election, her visit came at exactly the right moment and gave everyone a real boost in morale.”

Ms Spencer, a former pupil of The Berkeley Institute, won 465 votes in December 2024, comfortably seeing off the Liberal Democrat candidate, who got 336 votes, and becoming the youngest councillor elected in Greenwich.

That by-election, held just a few days before Christmas, had a voter turnout of only 15 per cent and Ms Spencer said she hoped today would bring bigger numbers.

West Thamesmead ward has two seats on Labour-run Greenwich council, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, Reform UK and the Conservatives all fielding candidates.

“This is a very, very contested time and I just hope that people remember everything that Labour's done in Greenwich, especially,” said Ms Spencer.

“I tell people that when you vote, this is not national elections. You're not going to wake up tomorrow and Sir Keir is gone.

“This is very local and it’s completely different from national … if they’re happy with how their area is run, then I guess I’m doing a good job.”

She has canvassed constantly since winning her seat, accompanied in recent months by her 18-year-old niece, Jazya Brimmer-Peets, who has moved from Bermuda to live with her, while studying in London.

Ms Spencer, who grew up in Loyal Hill, Devonshire, and is digital information officer for Southwark Council’s Department of Culture, serves on various council committees and is governor of a local primary school.

Her greatest achievement to date, she said, was getting a barrier installed outside the school to protect pupils from traffic.

The school groundsman wrote to her afterwards, calling her “Wonder Woman” and telling her he had spent years trying to fix the problem to no avail. “At last, someone who gets things done,” he wrote.

Ms Spencer said: “That was my first big win and it meant a lot.”

She became fascinated with politics when her grandmother, Pat Brangman, took her to a Progressive Labour Party rally, aged 8, and she went on to study the subject at school and university, as well as becoming youth leader of the island’s Free Democratic Movement.

Bermuda politics remain a keen interest, but for now her focus is on helping her constituents in Greenwich.

“There’s a loud few but there's always a quiet majority that sort of suffer in silence,” she said.

“That was my main motivator for applying to be a councillor, to really just be the voice for those who don't know how it works or might have the language barrier and aren’t confident enough to speak up.”

The local council election results will be announced tomorrow.