Local People. Not Business as usual.
Community Assemblies
Upcoming Events
Become a Member of Shake It Up.
Want to know the details?
What we’re doing in Lambeth?
Shake It Up began in Lambeth because too many residents felt shut out of the decisions shaping their lives. We believe local democracy should not be something that happens once every four years — it should be something people can participate in, challenge and shape all year round.
-
During the campaign, we knocked on over 20,000 doors, held 8 public Community Assemblies, and spoke with residents across Lambeth about housing, safety, local services, inequality, young people, culture, care and community power.
That listening work does not stop because an election has passed. We are continuing to bring residents together to identify what matters locally, develop solutions and build the kind of borough we want Lambeth to be.
-
Our Community Assemblies are spaces where residents can come together, set priorities, debate ideas and make collective decisions.
In the campaign, these assemblies helped shape local priorities and select community-led independent candidates. Now, the next step is to turn that energy into lasting democratic infrastructure: a Lambeth-wide Community Assembly that gives residents an ongoing voice to influence, challenge and hold the council to account
-
In 2026, Shake It Up supported 7 independent candidates across Lambeth, rooted in the belief that local people should be represented by people who are accountable to residents — not party headquarters.
Most of our candidates came through our Community Assembly process. Ruby Bukhari had already been selected by her community as an independent, and joined the campaign as part of the same wider push for honest, local, accountable politics.
We are now building the training, support and democratic structures needed to develop the next generation of community-led candidates, organisers and local leaders.
-
Shake It Up is bringing together neighbourhood groups, charities, organisers, tenants, creatives, campaigners and residents across the borough.
The aim is simple: connect the people already doing good work, strengthen relationships across Lambeth, and build shared power socially, culturally, economically and politically.
-
The election showed that people are ready for something different. Now we are building beyond the election: developing leadership, strengthening local organising, creating democratic structures and making sure residents have real influence over decisions that affect their lives.
This is new.
This is creative.
This is Lambeth — by Lambeth, for Lambeth.
Our May Canddidates In Lambeth
This May, we proudly ran a brilliant slate of community-powered candidates across Brixton and Clapham Park.
Shake It Up in Brighton
Live in the Brighton & Hove area?
In Brighton, a team of locals are setting up an exciting Shake It Up project in the run-up to their elections next year and need your help!
Meetings: every Monday 7pm @ Old Palestine House 20-22 Gloucester Place, Brighton, BN21 4AA.
Weekly Stall: Friday Open Market, London Road from 10am-12pm
Email us @ office@shakeitup.org.uk
Want to get in touch?
We’re not backed by big donors or political machines.
We’re powered by local people.
Why now?
Lambeth is changing.
For years, local politics in the borough felt closed, predictable and unresponsive. Many residents stopped voting not because they did not care, but because they did not believe anything would change.
But the 2026 local elections showed that old patterns are breaking. Labour lost control of Lambeth Council for the first time since 2006, while the Greens became the largest group, winning 29 of 63 seats, with Labour on 26 and the Liberal Democrats on 8.
That shift matters. It shows that Lambeth residents are willing to vote differently. But changing who sits in the council chamber is only part of the answer.
Real democracy means residents having power before, during and after elections.
Across Lambeth, people are facing rising rents, housing pressures, inequality, cuts to services, safety concerns and a growing sense that decisions are made without them. The proposal makes clear that Lambeth reflects wider national challenges: declining trust, political apathy and a widening gap between institutions and the communities they are meant to serve.
Shake It Up exists to close that gap.
We are here to break long-standing patterns of opaque, top-down local politics — and replace them with transparency, accountability, participation and community power.
Because when residents are given real opportunities to listen, deliberate, organise and lead, they show up. The campaign proved that. Now we want to build the structures to make that participation permanent.