A former Army bomb disposal expert who will be leading the Liberal Democrats’ election efforts in 2026 says Croydon’s residents are ‘fed up with paying more and getting less’
Richard Howard, the LibDems’ candidate for Mayor of Croydon in 2026, has today called for “urgent, radical change” in the way the borough is run.
Howard was responding to yesterday’s announcement from the government that it had run out of patience with the bungling and borrowing of Tory Mayor Jason Perry and his chief exec Katherine Kerswell.
With the council’s finances “deteriorating rapidly”, Jim McMahon, the minister for local government, described Croydon as “one of the most financially distressed councils in the country”, and that he is “minded” to parachute in Commissioners to take over the running of Fisher’s Folly.
The appointment of Commissioners would leave Perry as a lame duck Mayor until local elections next May, and raises serious questions about the position of £204,000 per year CEO Kerswell.
Major Howard worked as an Army bomb disposal expert before retiring to Coulsdon and a civvie career in accountancy. The hair-trigger, fragile nature of the council’s finances might call for the deftest of handling in future.
“Croydon’s finances are out of control,” Howard said.
“This crisis didn’t appear overnight — it’s the result of years of political failure by both Labour and the Conservatives.”
Howard’s way: LibDems Claire Bonham and Richard Howard have used the council’s latest crisis to start campaigning
Following the 2020 council bankruptcy under the previous Labour administration, since 2022 the borough’s debt has worsened under Tory Mayor Perry, despite him hiking Council Tax by 27% in just two years, even as services are cut to the bone.
The council’s debt stands at £1.4billion. But under Perry’s finance plans, he wants to increase that debt to £2.2billion by 2027.
“Residents are paying the price for years of short-term decisions, vanity projects and finger-pointing between the two bigger parties,” said Howard, who in 2022 won 10% of the borough-wide vote in the Mayoral election.
“We need a serious, credible recovery plan for Croydon’s finances – not more political stunts from the government or empty words from the Mayor.
“Residents are fed up with paying more and getting less.”
Croydon has only elected one Liberal Democrat councillor in more than 20 years, Claire Bonham in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood. According to Howard, “residents have seen the difference a hard-working, community-focused councillor can make”, describing Bonham as “a visible, active champion for her ward”.
And that’s despite Bonham claiming that she, and the council’s two Green councillors, have been frozen out of most Town Hall business by an authority that has been slow to update its own constitution to reflect the change to a mayoral system (they’ve had since 2021 to undertake the pen-pushing), with Mayor Perry and Labour unwilling to pursue the revisions necessary.
Howard said: “Croydon deserves better than the broken politics of the past. It’s time for something different – and the Liberal Democrats are ready to lead that change.”
Read more: McMahon acts after serious concerns on ‘aspects of leadership’
Read more: Mayor Perry: ‘Residents of Croydon have felt enough pain’
Read more: Borrowing plan would lead to council’s ‘collapse’ says report
Read more: Government sends in Commissioners to run Croydon Council
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Croydon Conservatives and Croydon Labour. Two cheeks of the same arse. And two arses with the same cheek. A plague o’ both their houses
Whatever happened to George Galloway?
Croydon is getting beyond saving. It is politically split between the inner city North and suburban South. Why not recognise this, write off the debts and split the borough between Sutton, Lambeth, Bromley and Tandridge?
As I have commented before, that might be the straw that breaks the back of those Councils.
Bromley has been predicting expenditure exceeding income for at least 15 years and been making, or trying to make, cuts and service closures too and getting into its own property deals such as at Crystal Palace Park with various foreign or native commercial property speculators.
I would hope that any ego appeal for councillors and ‘officers’ about empire enlargement, and remuneration enlargement would be exceeded by realism and humility that this might take Bromley and others down too.
I think going over the Greater London boundary would be too much for the government such that Tandridge is an unlikely acquisitor of parts of southern Croydon.
Tandridge, like Lambeth, has financial challenges of its own. Also Tandridge is subject to a local government reorganisation that will likely see just two unitary authorities in Surrey.
Rick would make a fantastic Mayor or MP and we have nothing to lose by voting for real change. There was a big swing to Lib Dem’s at the last local elections and we have the best chance to remove the complacent Tories from Croydon South. Whether they are in power or opposition they have done nothing to ensure we get a fair share of infrastructure and resources. It’s time for better.
Oh dear, “Ghislaine”, serial FibDem candidate Gill, and an apologist for the austerity enablers under Nick Clegg in 2010 who helped the Tories inflict untold damage on this country, leading to Brexit.
Where in your fantasy world are FibDems “best-placed” to unseat Philp? Richard Howard was only third in last July’s General Election, with less than 9% of the vote.
Lies, Gill, or delusional?
A LibDem and Green electoral pact could conceivably unseat a few complacent councillors from around the borough. Labour took Fairfield ward for granted until the Greens taught them a lesson, so a united front would give smug time-serving hangers-on elsewhere a good education.
Maybe Richard Howard will not just run for Mayor but also stand to become a councillor and so get on to the council one way or another. Someone who can defuse bombs should be able to help clear the fog of bollocks that pervades the Town Hall.
Croydon’s two main parties’ duopoly is the reason we’re all in this mess, as it enables people who are mediocre, mendacious or both to gain power. QED. Radical change is overdue
I can’t see the Lib Dems getting any more than a handful of councillors. All that being said, all the best next year in Old Coulsdon next year “Ghislaine”. You’ve got a decent chance of getting rid of a Tory there, work hard on canvassing over the next year.