CROYDON COMMENTARY: Even before her own party bosses censored her manifesto, there were spending commitments being made by Rowenna Davis, Labour’s candidate for Croydon Mayor, that just don’t add up. LibDem candidate RICHARD HOWARD, pictured left, explains
Rowenna Davis’s mayoral manifesto is, at first glance, full of energy, compassion and ambition.
It speaks to many of the real challenges facing Croydon: crime, housing, transport, opportunity for young people and the need to restore pride in our borough. On paper, it is everything a manifesto should be.
‘Uncosted pipedream’: the Labour mayoral candidate’s manifesto is where ‘good intentions meet financial illiteracy’ according to Richard Howard
But scratch beneath the surface, and a far more troubling picture emerges.
This is not a serious plan for running Croydon Council. It is an uncosted pipedream – a classic example of where good intentions meet financial illiteracy.
At no point does the manifesto set out what these proposals will cost, how they will be funded, or what trade-offs will be required to deliver them. That is not a minor omission. It is the central test of whether any political programme is credible – and it is a test this manifesto fails completely.
Croydon is not operating in normal circumstances. The council has issued multiple Section 114 notices, is burdened with enormous debt and remains reliant on ongoing Exceptional Financial Support simply to balance the books. The government-appointed Commissioners are explicit that Croydon remains one of the most financially distressed in the country and continues to face a structural deficit requiring tens of millions of pounds every year just to stand still.
In that context, a responsible manifesto would focus on how that can be resolved.
Instead, what we have with Davis’s manifesto is a long list of new initiatives, new teams, new programmes, new pilots and new entitlements – all presented as if the financial crisis does not exist.
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We are promised initiatives funded by fines, as if the debacle over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods has taught us nothing. We are promised free or subsidised schemes, as though there is a hidden pot of money waiting to be tapped. We are promised festivals, training programmes, expanded services and new partnerships, without any explanation of who pays for them once the headlines fade.
Even more concerning is the repeated blurring of what the Mayor of Croydon can actually deliver.
Large parts of the manifesto rely on decisions made by other bodies – Transport for London, the Department for Transport, the NHS, the police, schools, private developers and investors. Rowenna Davis is promising things she is unable to deliver; with money we simply don’t have.
A Mayor can lobby, convene and advocate – but they cannot compel rail operators to run more trains, cannot direct the police, cannot rewrite school policy and they cannot force developers to build. Promising these outcomes as if they are within direct control is not just optimistic – it is misleading.
And that matters, because Croydon has been here before.
Loss of trust: Tory Jason Perry has failed to deliver on his 2022 promises and has normalised the financial crisis
The previous Labour administration left behind a legacy of reckless borrowing, weak governance and a culture described by auditors as “collective corporate blindness” to the scale of the financial crisis. That is not political rhetoric; it is the formal conclusion of the council’s own external auditors.
Residents were told then that ambitious investment would transform the borough.
Instead, it left a bankrupt borough.
In 2022, when he was elected Mayor, Conservative Jason Perry promised to fix the finances. He pledged a fresh start and a firm grip on the finances. Four years on, residents can see for themselves that this has not been delivered. Council Tax has risen sharply, services have been cut and the council remains dependent on borrowing just to function.
The crisis has not been resolved – it has been normalised.
Now Labour is back, offering another set of promises that do not add up.
Croydon cannot afford another cycle of over-promising and under-delivering. It cannot afford another administration that confuses aspiration with execution, or rhetoric with reality.
Because the truth is simple and unavoidable: unless we solve the financial crisis, Croydon will continue to decline.
No number of initiatives, pilot schemes or glossy promises will change that. If the council cannot live within its means, if it cannot regain control of its cost base, if it cannot restore financial credibility, then every other ambition – however well-intentioned – will fall away.
This is the reality that both Labour and the Conservatives have failed to confront.
And it is why I will not be publishing a manifesto filled with undeliverable pledges.
Croydon does not need another unfunded wish list. It needs leadership.
It needs a Mayor who understands finance, who understands risk and who is prepared to make the difficult decisions required to restore stability. It needs someone who recognises that rebuilding this borough starts not with promises, but with discipline, credibility and trust.
My commitment is simple.
I will be the Mayor that Croydon needs to get it out of the mess it has been left in by both Labour and the Conservatives – a Mayor with the skills, experience and judgement to turn this borough around, and to put it back on a sustainable footing for the future.
Because until we do that, nothing else matters.
- Major Richard Howard is the Liberal Democrat party’s candidate for Croydon Mayor, who is also satnding for election to the council in Coulsdon Town ward
- Anyone can write a Croydon Commentary, which is here to provide a platform for our readers to offer their personal views and experiences about what matters to them in and around our corner of south London. To submit an article for consideration for publication, email us at inside.croydon@btinternet.com, or post your comment to an Inside Croydon article that has caught your attention
Recent Croydon Commentary columns:
- The art of the deal: what is Perry hiding over Veolia contract?
- It was a bad deal for Croydon. Why did they allow it to happen?
- Pictures on our streets show we need more art in Croydon
- Time for better than Perry’s half-truths on Bridge to Nowhere
- For the full list of candidates standing for Croydon Mayor, as published on the council website, click here
- For the full list of election candidates in the borough’s 28 wards, click here for the official listings on the council website
Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor, has refused to give a pre-election interview to Inside Croydon, where he would face questions about his record in office- Paid-up subscribers to this website can listen to The Andrew Fisher Interview with Labour’s Rowenna Davis by clicking here
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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
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Richard Howard eloquently, and accurately, describes the shortcomings of Rowenna Davis’s manifesto. But his alternative policies are just as unacceptable. His “difficult decisions” and financial “discipline” will inevitably mean more cuts to essential services.
Major Howard makes no reference to the need to campaign for write-off by the Government of a substantial part of Croydon’s £1.4 billion debt. Without this Croydon will remain in a parlous financial state for years to come.
I have said on many occasions the necessity to obtain a new financial settlement with the government on Croydon’s debt. However, what was made clear in a meeting with the commissioners today (a meeting that Rowenna Davis did not attend), a deal on the debt will not be forthcoming until Croydon Council has proven that they can deliver “best value” to its residents.
That does not necessarily mean cuts but the ability to deliver services at a cost base that is comparable to other local authorities – something that Croydon has failed to do under both Labour and Conservative administrations.
Every decision made at every council in the country is “difficult” and requires “discipline”. Such is the situation that all councils face with respect to the increasing demand for statutory services and increasing costs. That’s what Croydon needs – not a fantasy wish list of things that the mayor neither the power nor the money to deliver. To make voters believe otherwise is dishonest.
Your party, in coalition with the Conservative Party, set this whole ball in motion when your party endorsed austerity. You could have exited the coalition, but you went along with decimating public services, including government council grants, which is the real reason why Local Government finances are in the state that they are in today.
But how would YOU solve the financial crisis facing the Council?
What are the difficult decisions you are prepared to make?
What parts of the budget will you cut?
You say you’ll abolish the Chief Exec post but what other jobs – and not just management – will have to go to not only balance the budget but start of pay off the debt?
You are basically complaining about other parties and their airy fairy manifestos but without solid plans for people to assess yours is just as airy fairy.
Be better than the other parties!
I have been clear on what needs to happen to solve this crisis:
– We need a slimmer, flatter management structure with fewer layers separating the corporate management team from the coal face.
– We need to build high performing teams internally, not rely on a revolving door of agency, temporary and interim staff.
– We need to develop corporate knowledge organically, not try and import it from external consultants.
– We need effective performance management where metrics are directly linked to the desired outcomes.
– We need leadership at all levels, with everyone accountable for delivering efficiency and cost savings.
– We need transformational leadership from Mayor who can develop a new organisational culture at Croydon Council.
If we achieve all of this, then we will convince the government that Croydon Council can deliver “best value” to its residents. That will then unlock a deal on the debt that will take us to back to financial sustainability.
I published this plan back in July 2025 and discussed it with the commissioners today. I have the skills, experience and proven track record to deliver it, starting on 7th May.
So your solution is “more buzzphrases and corporate speak”. Right.
Is Jane Smith your real name, or do your friends call you Ian Parker?
Me Tarzan, you Ian
Honestly, every candidate churns out a 5-bullet-point poster promising the same flavour of “everything will be better” – it’s all complete crap. Nobody ever fixes anything it all just gets worse. Complete waste of time.
Completely justifiable cynicism, David.
Perhaps if nobody in Croydon voted for any of the mayoral or council election candidates that would be the best way of showing that we don’t believe in the current system/poor selection of candidates, who will just line their own pockets and drive the council’s finances even further into the ground, as their predecessors did ?!
Central government grant has been reduced by 60% since 2010. So for every £100 the council received in 2010, it only gets £40 now, and that is without factoring in inflation. Therefore it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever what plans/ polices the candidates for mayor and the council make because THERE IS NO MONEY. There will be no restoration of any of the council services that have been cut since 2010 without cuts to services that are still available now. How each party will “make things better” is just smoke and mirrors because there is nothing that they can do. They are all just rats in a sack fighting over something that is not there.
Re the settlement with the Central Government. Labour got the Council in this mess. We have four MPs. Three are Labour. Two are Ministers. You’d think they’d find some money to clear up their mess if only to help restore the reputation of their own party locally. But no, the cupboard is always bare. In the words of Oliver Twist “Please Sir Keir Starmer, I want some more.”
Local government funding is not just about Croydon. Every council in the country has fallen victim to it and it will never ever be restored. Even a full bailout would not solve the problem if annual funding is not restored.
You’re clearly desperate to slag off Labour regardless of the issue at hand, which makes your post embarrassing and pathetic.
I’m a Labour party member. Just too busy to go to meetings and listen to the blame shifting. I used to go to the odd fundraising dinner but I developed an allergy to Kool Aid …
The thing that REALLY pisses me off is that no one takes any responsibility for the mess we’re in. There is no shame – Negrini, Newman etc. If our leaders were running a partnership, for example, they’d be personally liable for pissing taxpayers money up the wall. I know some company directors play fast and loose with other people’s money, but they can be banned from directorships etc. Mind you if we were able to ban the councillors who got us in this mess, the Town Hall – or whatever IC calls it – would be empty.
The real culprits are Cameron and Osborne, with the backing of Clegg who sent this country on its death dive into austerity. All governments since have facilitated the demise of local government funding. That is not to say that incompetence at the local level is not also a factor.
Sadly people have very short memories in this day and age which is why the 2010 coalition government rarely get the credit they deserve for the creation of the mess that we are in.