Patsy Cummings was last night selected by Labour to be their third candidate in Fairfield ward at next May’s local council elections.

Patsy Cummings: Labour candidate in Fairfield

Cummings joins Clive Fraser and David Wood, who were selected in June, on the Labour slate for the central Croydon ward that in 2010 elected three Conservatives – David Fitze, Vidhi Mohan and Susan Winborn – each with around a 1,000-vote margin over their Labour challengers then.

The additional meeting last night was held following the withdrawal from the process of any women candidates in the ward. Labour party rules require at least one woman candidate to stand in each ward.

Cummings is a party activist from Upper Norwood who does much work within the Catholic Association for Racial Justice.

In a ballot of Fairfield ward party members, she beat the challenge from businesswoman Claudine Reid.

“Patsy will be a tremendous addition to our team in Fairfield and I look forward to working with her,” Tony Newman, the leader of the Labour group on Croydon Council, told Inside Croydon.

The ward selections, Newman said, “has at times been an exciting and tense process”.

Newman added: “I would rather have Labour’s problem of too many great candidates chasing too few seats, as opposed to the Tories where they are putting out increasingly desperate appeals to find enough people to stand and defend the record of Mike Fisher’s increasingly discredited council.”

Fairfield represents the final key ward for Labour selection ahead of next May’s Town Hall elections, with only Labour ward parties to the south of the borough, which is deep Tory blue, to nominate their candidates. The Conservatives have controlled Croydon Town Hall since 2006, holding 37 of the 70 seats from 24 wards at the last elections, in 2010.

Previous coverage of Croydon’s local elections and selections:

• Desperately devious: Barwell appeals to women of Addiscombe
• Complaint filed over Woodley’s New Addington selection
• Tory leader Fisher is fearful of defections to UKIP
• Tony Benn’s grand-daughter selected for West Thornton ward
• Gray day for “rising star”, as Smith loses selection battle

Coming to Croydon

• The Firebird, family concert: Oct 20
• Lakes Playground group’s fundraising Zumba-ween: Oct 26
• PJ’s enterprising look at Black History Month: Oct 29
• The Railway Children: Oct 30-Nov 2
• St Giles School open morning: Nov 13
• Secret Love at the Ashcroft Theatre: Nov 14
• Future Tech City: Nov 30

• Inside Croydon: Croydon’s only independent news source, based in the heart of the borough – 262,183 page views (Jan-Jun 2013)
  
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