With candidate declarations to close tomorrow, even some of the biggest political parties are scrambling around for last-minute volunteers to appear on ballot papers on May 7. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE

Your Party, the leftist grouping backed by several MPs and led in Parliament by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has announced its candidate for the local elections in Croydon next month.

Your Party will have a single candidate for the council elections, contesting one seat in Thornton Heath, when there are a total of 70 Town Hall councillor seats up for grabs.

Union official Mel Mullings is to be Your Party’s first election candidate in Croydon.

Tomorrow is the deadline for candidate nominations to be submitted to the council’s electoral services department, ahead of election day on May 7. It will be when the candidates’ lists are published by the council that a full picture of how robust local parties’ memberships really are.

There have been newspaper reports in the past few days of Reform Ltd ringing up random individuals – including in one case a Grauniad journalist – asking for their permission to use their name as a “paper candidate” – someone making up the numbers with no real intention of campaigning, but to ensure that a party fields a “full slate”.

Such last-minute desperation to scramble together names to place on ballot papers has also been noticed among the more established parties, including, in Sutton, with Labour. Sutton Labour have been left in some disarray following the scandal of Sheldon Vestey, their councillor on the Costas.

Late scramble: how the Torygraph reported on Sutton Labour’s latest issues

Sutton Labour’s former group leader is not standing for election in May.

But then, according to emails published by the Torygraph, nor are enough Labour members.

“The deadline for candidate nominations is next week and we still have a number of places left for members to stand for us in those wards where the aim is mainly to fly the flag for Labour,” reads an email from a local party official sent to Sutton members.

“To complete that task we ned your help NOW.” This was written in bold, red text. And underlined.

“I’ve never known so many parties to not have their candidates lined up this close to the close of nominations,” one senior Katharine Street source told Inside Croydon this week.

London’s 32 boroughs will elect 1,817 councillors, and last time, in 2022, Labour was the only party to field a full slate of candidates. The Tories had a full slate in 25 of London’s 32 boroughs. Four years ago, the Green Party stood in fewer than half of the council seats across London, with a full complement in only Newham and Islington.

Then, Nigel Farage’s party fielded only 32 candidates, spread across 12 boroughs. There were no Reform Ltd candidates in Croydon in 2022.

Croydon has 28 election areas – called wards – with 70 council seats shared among them – three seats in most wards, two in some and just one in Park Hill and Whitgift ward.

“How many candidates a party stands is an indicator of three things,” according to Dr Nick Bowes, the managing director of the London Communications Agency (the current PR shills for Westfield, funnily enough). “One is a political virility test – the more you stand, the greater a party’s strength and stature. If you want to be in the big league, you must fight almost every contest.

“Second, it’s a reflection of a party’s confidence. If you think you’re going to win and do well across London, then you’ll field as many candidates as you can muster.

“And third, resources and capacity – smaller parties with less money, smaller memberships and fewer activists cannot afford to spread themselves thinly.”

Blocked: hard-working councillor Karen Jewitt

Which is where Your Party comes in.

Inside Croydon was the first to report how the emerging Your Party, plagued even before its first conference with personality disputes and factional in-fighting, had handicapped its local organisers by withholding campaign cash and even local membership lists.

In Croydon, that meant that Your Party would be unable to field many, if any, candidates in the local elections.

This week, they have revealed that Mullings will be their one and only candidate.

Thornton Heath is an interesting choice of ward for Your Party – within the widely despised Steve Reed’s parliamentary constituency, this may not be the “safe” Labour territory, where thousands of working-class voters’ support could be taken for granted, that it once was. Labour has also committed its own act of election self-harm, refusing to allow popular and hard-working councillor Karen Jewitt to stand again.

Mullings is described as “a train driver, trade unionist and campaigner”.

Your candidate: Mel Mullings is standing in Thornton Heath in Croydon’s council elections

She said: “People feel let down by both Labour and the Tories in Croydon and Thornton Heath. And Reform just blames immigrants and offers no real answers.

“Council Tax is going up and council services are being cut. People are being asked to pay more for less.

“If elected I will oppose any further council cuts or tax rises. I will campaign for better services, more youth and community facilities and more green spaces in Thornton Heath.

“There is a severe housing crisis which needs to be tackled, and our streets need to be cleaner and safer.

“Many of us feel disillusioned with all politicians and ask what’s the point of voting. But now we have a new party – Your Party – which stands for the interests of the many, not the millionaires.

“I hope people will entrust me to be a voice for Thornton Heath on Croydon Council.”

Read more: Time running out to register to vote in Croydon local elections
Read more: Labour forces Davis to erase ‘genocide’ from her manifesto
Read more: It’s no Flook: dozen Reform members resign over candidate

For more information on where to vote on May 7 and who is standing for election, use our widget here:

Inside Croydon – If you want real journalism, delivering real news, from a publication that is actually based in the borough, please consider paying for it. Sign up today: click here for more details

PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates

• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com

• As featured on Google News Showcase

• We offer FREE ads to community groups when they have members who are paid subscribers to Inside Croydon

• Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here

• ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups

• Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network