The South Croydon ward by-election will be held on Thursday, June 30, the council has announced.
The by-election is a needless expense for the cash-strapped council that has been caused by Tory Mayor Jason Perry putting himself forward as a ward councillor there. The elected Mayor is not able to also serve as a ward councillor.
Staging the by-election could cost the borough at least £20,000.
Mayor in the middle: the by-election will see a new councillor replace Jason Perry alongside Michael Neal and Maria Gatland
The South Croydon ward results in the local election staged on May 5 saw Perry (1,872 votes) and his two long-standing Conservative colleagues, Maria Gatland (1,898) and Michael Neal (1,688) elected ahead of three Labour candidates in what was – according to the incompetents running the Labour election campaign – supposed to be their target seat. The best Labour candidate polled 300 votes fewer than the third Tory on May 5.
There was a 38per cent voter turn-out – sort of moderately disinterested, but considerably better than most Labour-held wards. For the unnecessary by-election, turn-out is likely to be much lower.
The Conservatives began their selection process last weekend.
Inside Croydon understands that Labour’s bungling Local Campaign Forum will be selecting their party’s candidate tonight, with little, if any, involvement of the local membership, as would usually be expected to happen.
With the Sue Gray Report into Partygate finally about to see the light of day, and further concerns over the cost of living crisis and soaring fuel bills, and coinciding with a couple of parliamentary by-elections caused by the resignations of disgraced Tory MPs, the national political agenda is unlikely to favour Perry’s Tories.
After the May 5 elections, Labour was the largest political group at the Town Hall, with 34 councillors to the Conservatives’ 32, with three others, giving Croydon Council “no overall control” for the first time in its history. The outcome of this by-election, with Perry as executive Mayor, is largely academic.
The council says, “Residents living in South Croydon ward who are British, eligible Commonwealth, Irish or European Union citizens, and aged 18 or over on June 30, will be able to vote at this election, but only if they are registered to vote.
Waste of time and money: how South Croydon voted on May 5
“The council is urging anyone in South Croydon ward not on the electoral register to sign up. You must be registered to vote by midnight on June 14 to vote in this by-election.
“The deadline for applying to vote by post in this by-election is Wednesday 15 June. All postal votes should be dispatched to electors who have arranged to vote by post by Friday June 17.”
For more information on the by-election, to register to vote, or how to obtain a nomination pack to stand as a candidate or for deadlines for registration and voting by post or by proxy, click here.
Read more: Tory Perry wins historic Mayor election by less than 600 votes
Read more: ‘Based on this year’s elections, Croydon is in a very bad place’
Read more: £100,000 Mayor Perry unveils his old team as the new team
Read more: No Overall Control: full election results for Croydon’s 28 wards
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This is unfair, as the ward and party of the successful Mayoral candidate is not known until after the election is counted.
The only way around it would have been to say beforehand that the new Mayor’s council seat shall be automatically filled by the most narrowly unsuccessful candidate of the same party elsewhere.
There are then details of whether you choose the person with “highest number of votes received” or “narrowest margin of loss”, or whether you choose from only Croydon borough candidates or perhaps include those from a physically directly-adjoining ward of a different borough.
Reveals the humbug that is Jason Perry. Doesn’t mind wasting precious Council resources to enable him to have a backstop of an income from the public funds. He is far more important isn’t he.
This is how democracy works. It is not a waste of money.
It works by standing for as many elected positions as possible when knowing it can lead to duplication requiring a further correcting election? Never knew that.