Mrs Thompson served on Wandsworth Council from 1978 to 1998 and represented Roehampton ward for those two decades.

A committed trade unionist and former local government officer, she served on a large number of council committees, including technical services, establishment, social services and leisure and amenity services. She also chaired the Wandsworth Co-op for many years.

She was a long standing member of the housing committee and a near permanent member of the various council and tenant forums covering the Putney and Roehampton areas. She was also a governor of Granard primary school in Putney for 30 years.

While working at the London County Council and later for the Surrey County Council, she became an active member of the Nalgo trade union and was later elected to its National Committee on Equal Opportunities.

After leaving the council in 1998, she was awarded the title Honorary Alderman of the Borough in recognition of her years of service on the council.

In her latter years she worked closely with various groups in the borough representing pensioners' including the Putney and Roehampton Organisation of Pensioners (Prop) and the Wandsworth Pensioners' Forum.

Orphaned at the age of five, after both her parents were killed in what was believed to have been a car crash, she suffered a series of personal tragedies throughout her life.

Yet despite these setbacks, her friends and fellow members of the Labour Party described her as "a tough and resolute character who had risen above personal tragedy to represent her constituents with zeal and determination".

The deputy leader of Wandsworth's Labour group Cllr Tony Belton, who served alongside her for 20 years, said: "Vera was an old school member of the Labour Party, from a distinctively working class and deprived background, who was an active trade unionist and a committed co-operator.
She was a tenant leader, comfortable with her fellow constituents on the large Roehampton estates. Vera is well described by the epithet "salt of the earth".

The Conservative leader of the council Edward Lister said: "Vera Thompson was a larger than life character who bore her personal difficulties with great stoicism and resolve. She was a tenacious fighter for what she believed in and while we had many political disagreements, one could not help but respect the strength of her views and her determination to fight for what she believed in."