Author: croydonconstitutionalists

Jonathon Mabbutt, SDP candidate for Bethnal Green and Stepney

Jonathon Mabbutt has been announced as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green and Stepney.  We spoke with Jon about party, the constituency, and the upcoming campaign.

“We passionately believe in democracy, freedom of speech and a rational approach to policy”

Many people will have heard of the SDP, but maybe not for some years.  Can you briefly introduce the party and tell us what it stands for?

The Social Democratic Party was once a big force in British politics, finishing third in an alliance with the Liberals. The majority of the party merged to form the Liberal Democrats but those who remained kept the party alive. Fast forward to today and we are the fastest growing grassroots party and plan to field more candidates at the next election that at any time since the 80s.

We are fighting for the common good in Britain’s national interest. We passionately believe in democracy, freedom of speech and a rational approach to policy. We believe in a strong social sector and building national resilience against global shocks. We hold to traditional values and stand for community, family, and nation.

Can you also let our readers know about yourself, and what led you to get involved in politics?

I am a husband and father and I have been working for charities in the homelessness and addiction sector for the last 15 years. I was a youth and children’s worker for a church for 2 years prior to that. I have always wanted to do work that helped people, especially those in difficult circumstances, and getting involved with the SDP is really a continuation of that.

“the SDP is a party that is actually offering solutions and reflects the mainstream very well, especially in places left behind by political indifference”

You’re the parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green and Stepney, what’s made you decide to stand?

I have always been interested in politics but never felt represented by any of the mainstream parties. This is quite a common experience. Much of the nation is pretty detached from the views of the Westminster bubble. By contrast the SDP is a party that is actually offering solutions and reflects the mainstream very well, especially in places left behind by political indifference. If we are to bring change that would benefit us all then we need good candidates. After much consideration I decided that I couldn’t complain from the side-lines any longer.

“We have huge issues of overcrowding with many, many flats housing far more people than there are bedrooms. The social housing stock here is miniscule and what remains is often very run down”

What do you see as the big concerns for the constituency and what issues do you hope to champion?

I’m standing in Bethnal Green. We have huge issues of overcrowding with many, many flats housing far more people than there are bedrooms. The social housing stock here is miniscule and what remains is often very run down. We also have extremely high levels of child poverty and a lack of social cohesion.

On the national level I’m passionate about standing up for free speech and free association, a respect for the family and the role of parents and getting the state back into housebuilding. I’m in favour of a reduction in economic migration and a compassionate yet sensible approach to the refugee crisis which prioritises taking the most insecure people in refugee camps over those from Europe crossing illegally with the help of criminal gangs.

For those eager to help, how can they get involved in the campaign?

I would invite people to take a look at the policies and new declaration on our website sdp.org.uk, and if they speak to your concerns then consider joining us. Likewise, you can e-mail me at [email protected].

You can also follow Jon on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jonmabbutt.

Podcast Episode 84 – Tony Brown: Libertarian Party Mayoral Candidate; ULEZ, Housing & Policing

We are joined by Tony Brown, who was recently announced as the Libertarian Party UK candidate to take on Sadiq Khan in next year’s election to be Mayor of London. Tony explains his philosophy and his plans for London.

Spreaker

iTunes

Google Podcasts

Podchaser

Podcast Addict		Deezer

Spotify

Stitcher

Castbox

Amazon

Contents:
00:00 – Intro
01:38 – Who is Tony Brown?
05:07 – Why Libertarian Party UK?
07:33 – ULEZ
08:37 – Policing
10:25 – Transport
13:11 – Housing
17:31 – Wasted Vote?
20:57 – Campaigning
22:03 – How to get involved
23:30 – Event
23:53 – Outro

Liberty drinks, Baker Street, Friday 30th June.

“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.” – Thomas Sowell

On the great Thomas Sowell’s 93rd Birthday, Friday 30th June, we are joining like-minded liberty lovers at a regular libertarian’s drinks in The Metropolitan Bar, 7 Station Approach, Marylebone, London, NW1 5LA, (near Baker Street station) from 7pm.

“What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race?” – Thomas Sowell

We welcome any liberty loving followers of the Croydon Constitutionalists, and others who can come along for this meet-up.

Come along to Baker Street on Friday 30th June to The Metropolitan Bar, 7 Station Approach, Marylebone, London, NW1 5LA, from 7pm, for a night of catching up with fellow liberty lovers.

“Crusaders [against alcohol and drugs] cannot accept the fact they are not God, that they have neither the right nor the competence to run other people’s lives.” – Thomas Sowell

Croydon Council – please just do your job

By Mike Swadling

In 2019 I wrote a plea on this site that Croydon Council focus on just doing it’s job.  Croydon Council had just been busy spending our money on the Croydon Park Hotel and Colonnades Retail Park.  At the time I asked if the council had fully taken account of the risks should we have a downturn.  I also wondered if it more made sense to have the best and brightest at the council, focused on providing services rather than property speculation.  Well as we now know Croydon Council fell into de facto bankruptcy.

“looking for offers in excess of £10million, the only snag being they purchased Davis House for £19million in 2008”

Croydon Park Hotel was sold at a loss of £5 million.  The Colonnades Retail Park appears to be up for sale, and we await the final bill for this property speculation.  In case you think this is a one (or two) off, it appears Croydon Council has a longer history of property speculation.  The council is now in the process of selling Davis House and is looking for offers in excess of £10million, the only snag being they purchased Davis House for £19million in 2008.  MyLondon reports “At the time, the Conservative administration, described the £19 million purchase as a “good investment”.  Cabinet member for finance, Jason Cummings, was not a councillor at the time but said the investment was “reasonable”. He said: “Broadly speaking it is thought to have been a reasonable and justifiable price, I don’t think there was any controversy about it.”

” Councils engaging in property speculation are like the communists who think this time, unlike every other, it will be done properly and it won’t end in mass starvation”

No doubt at the time this was considered a good idea, the Croydon Park Hotel and Colonnades purchases were considered a good idea, the property speculation that led to Woking Council issuing a Section 114 notice with £2billion of debt, was considered a good idea at the time.  All, it turns out were very bad ideas.  Councils engaging in property speculation are like the communists who think this time, unlike every other, it will be done properly and it won’t end in mass starvation, and piles of dead bodies.

For those following the story at Woking Council this report by SurreyLive echo’s many of the problems that led to Croydon’s own bankruptcy: “A separate internal review was conducted that found long-standing issues dating back to before 2016 including an environment of weak financial controls, sub-optimal record keeping, and a lack of resources to manage complex company structures. There has also been an “absence of external audit opinions on the council’s accounts since 2018/19”.

Focusing on doing their job isn’t just restricted to abstaining from property speculation.  We’ve reported previously on the cost to taxpayers of Croydon Pride.  This peaked in 2019 at £65,000 and last year (in bankruptcy), Croydon Council has confirmed their sponsorship cost £10,000 of taxpayer funds:  

“We can confirm that Croydon Council provided a grant of £10,000 for Croydon Pride in 2022/23. This was part of our initial funding to prepare for the London Borough of Culture 2023: This is Croydon, and was provided from ring-fenced funds and not general council funding.”

“Whilst we should be thankful the cost to taxpayers is now less than 1/6th of what it was a few years ago, it’s still unclear to me why you, or any other taxpayers should have subsidised my weekend entertainment”

Whilst we should be thankful the cost to taxpayers is now less than 1/6th of what it was a few years ago, it’s still unclear to me why you, or any other taxpayers should have subsidised my weekend entertainment at the event.

The most concerning part of this is that Croydon Council believes it is somehow acceptable for a bankrupt council, that is cutting services, and who have had to increase council tax by 15%, to spend funds gathered from all out taxes on subsidising weekend entertainment for a few people (and people who are not struggling judging by the drink prices), just because it comes from a another pot of money. We have no news yet on what Croydon Council being the ‘Headline Sponsor’ of this years Croydon Pride will cost taxpayers, but if it’s anything like the previous ones they are great events, and you might want to get along on Saturday 15th July to get your money’s worth.

Podcast Episode 83 – Howard Cox: Reform UK’s Anti-ULEZ Mayoral Candidate

We are joined by Howard Cox, who was recently announced as the Reform UK candidate to take on Sadiq Khan in next year’s election to be Mayor of London. Howard explains his reasons for standing and his plans for London.

Spreaker

iTunes

Google Podcasts

Podchaser

Podcast Addict		Deezer

Spotify

Stitcher

Castbox

Amazon

Contents:

00:00 – Intro
01:37 – Who is Howard Cox?
05:07 – Why Reform UK?
07:20 – ULEZ
10:16 – Policing & Other Policies
13:50 – Wasted Vote?
18:06 – Campaigning
21:39 – How to get involved
23:08 – Website & Events
25:08 – Outro

Giving thanks to the Industrial Revolution 

By Mike Swadling

As the advert goes ‘If Carlsberg did…’, days out for somewhat dull, middle aged guys, they wouldn’t be going far wrong if they produced the ‘Black Country Living Museum’.

In the centre of Dudley, the open-air museum set across 26 acres has rebuilt old buildings focused on historical industrial life in the area.  With rebuilt homes, a mine, workshops demonstrating traditional skills, public buildings and 50 shops, the place is amazing. In most of these you can encounter great information and have fascinating chats with actors playing part guide and part historic character.   As if this wasn’t enough, the absolute icing on the cake is two working pubs, where you can sample a cracking pint of beer (or two).

“we were left with the impression the Industrial Revolution was rather a bad thing!  Indeed, we were often left feeling that the lives of those in the Black Country at this period had never been worse”

I visited the museum back in April and thoroughly enjoyed it but was left with one nagging doubt of concern.  There were great insights from staff about life around the turn of the 20th Century.  They were able to answer most questions people had, and clearly enjoyed their job.  But for me the doubt wouldn’t go away, at every stop we were left with the impression the Industrial Revolution was rather a bad thing!  Indeed, we were often left feeling that the lives of those in the Black Country at this period had never been worse.  It’s not just at the museum but more generally we are asked to see industrialisation as a blight on the lives of those who lived through it, when the opposite in many ways is the truth. 

The Industrial Revolution is generally considered to have started in around 1760.  At that time average life expectancy in what is now the U.K. was about 38, it steadily rose to be over 50 by 1905.  This might not seem much of an achievement by today’s standards but given life expectancy had hovered around 35 for 900 years that steady increase is quite something.

Life expectancy is far from the only measure of the quality of life in a country, population growth is also a good indicator to the robustness of a society.  England’s population hovered from 5-10 million (the Black Death impacting this) for about 500 years until the mid-1700’s when it starts to take off to reach around 40 million by 1900.  This change represents children outliving the challenging first few years after birth and families being able to provide for many more young mouths. 

“In 150 years, average annual income had grown by more than it had in all the time since the invention of money.”

How could these poor workers afford those extra mouths? Especially given we are told how hard life was. Well, it turns out people were earning more, much, much, even inflation adjusted more.  Average Incomes started rising in the mid-1600s due in large part to the agricultural revolution, by 1760 they breach £2000 per annum in today’s money for the first time ever, by 1910 they were over £5000.  In 150 years, average annual income had grown by more than it had in all the time since the invention of money.

Not only were these extra mouths being fed, life was improving for them.  Life for children in the industrial revolution shouldn’t be compared to some idealise vision of living off the land, or to pictures from our own childhood, but instead be compared to a life punctuated with regular periods of famine and plague.  Children always worked, but the industrial revolution started to see families choose to and laws put an end to that.  In 1785 we see the Sunday School Society established, 1788 see the start of laws setting the minimum age boys could be employed as chimney sweeps, 1802 see’s the first of the Factory Acts, which required factory owners to provide some education.  In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act set out that ‘pauper children’ should receive education daily.  Half a century of improvements eventually saw the 1870 Elementary Education Act which introduced compulsory education for children aged 5-13.

The moves to compulsory education but also the additional options the relative wealth of industrialisation brought, meant that whilst “In 1800 around 40 percent of males and 60 percent of females in England and Wales were illiterate. By 1840 this had decreased to 33 percent of men and 50 percent of women, and, by 1870, these rates had dropped further still to 20 percent of men and 25 percent of women. By the turn of the century, illiteracy rates for both sexes had dropped to around 3 percent.” (source: Education, Literacy and the Reading Public.  Amy J. Lloyd, University of Cambridge)

“India has grown its industrial output from $5.4 billion in today’s money in 1960 to $443.9 billion in 2021.  In the same period life expectancy has gone from 41 to 70”

The industrial revolution significantly improved the lot of people throughout the United Kingdom.  But not only has this industrial manna from invention benefited people in the UK, it’s proven to be a repeatable process benefiting those across the globe.  India has grown its industrial output from $5.4 billion in today’s money in 1960 to $443.9 billion in 2021.  In the same period life expectancy has gone from 41 to 70.  Nigeria has seen industrial output in today’s money rise from $33 billion in 1981 to $64 billion in 2021, and life expectancy rise from 45 to 55 over that time.  On the same basis Nicaragua has seen industrial output rise from $0.54 billion to $1.96 billion from 1994 to 2021, and life expectancy rise from 66 to 75 in the same period.  Lastly Botswana’s industrial output has gone from $0.01 billion in 1965 to $0.98 billion in 2021, whilst seeing life expectancy grew from 51 to 69.

“We should celebrate industrialisation, celebrate the increased standards of living it gave us, and celebrate the increased prosperity it’s brought across the globe”

Many countries have either gone through or moved directly to having largely service based economies, whilst seeing similar benefits in life expectancy.  All of this is possible thanks to the Industrial Revolution, indeed almost literally everything you see around you is thanks to the Industrial Revolution. We should celebrate industrialisation, celebrate the increased standards of living it gave us, and celebrate the increased prosperity it’s brought across the globe. 

The Black Country Living Museum is a fantastic place, a great place to visit and a great place for a pint.  I just wish the excellent staff and society more generally would be more thankful for the glories of the Industrial Revolution.  From affordable mass-produced clothes on our back, the heating in our homes, the lighting at night, our transportation, to our abundance of food from across the globe, and much more, the Industrial Revolution is responsible for it all.

Croydon: Is the new boss, same as the old boss?

Author Michael Swadling

“Croydon is the London Borough of Culture for 2023. As part of this they are committed to spending £522,500 in 2022/23, and propose another £452,500 in 2023/24”

In 1986 the TV series ‘Yes Prime Minster’ first aired the episode ‘A Real Partnership’.  In it, Sir Humphrey seeks advice from his predecessor Sir Arnold on how to sneak through a Civil Service pay rise.  Sir Arnold goes onto explain: ‘he should increase the London and graduate allowances since these don’t count as pay rises. Furthermore, the Outstanding Merit Awards (every civil servant gets it) should be increased and the number of civil servants decreased by creating independent trusts. This way the same pay rise will look to be only 6% a year’.

37 years later and some of the convoluted nature of this suggestion appears to have been taken on by Croydon Council.  With a blaze of publicity and photo opportunities, Croydon is the 2023 London Borough of Culture. 

The “London Borough of Culture award aims to shine a light on the character and diversity of London’s boroughs and bring culture to everyone”.  This sounds fine but with record high taxes at national, regional, and local levels, it’s hard to see how this is necessary public spending. 

In February I wrote for the TaxPayers’ Alliance “It’s also hard to see what’s fundamentally changed at the council. There’s still huge amounts of savings that could be made. Croydon is the London Borough of Culture for 2023. As part of this they are committed to spending £522,500 in 2022/23, and propose another £452,500 in 2023/24. Additionally, £1,350,000 will come from the GLA, and £1,900,000 is expected from Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage. Spending public funds on arts that are not viable commercially or via voluntary donations as the council has been doing for years, is no less of a waste of money when it comes from someone else’s funding stream.”

“Is the new boss, same as the old boss?  Well, it does appear that much like Sir Arnold’s suggestion the same old spending is being recycled under the new Borough of Culture guise”

We are now starting to see where this largess is being spent.  In the period May 2022 to March 2023 (inclusive) a whopping £769,570.00 has been spent by Croydon Council under the ‘Borough of Culture’ cost centre from payments over £500.  This has been spilt between just 16 organisations, many of whom regularly showed up when Croydon’s then Labour Council was spending the borough to de facto bankruptcy.  Is the new boss, same as the old boss?  Well, it does appear that much like Sir Arnold’s suggestion the same old spending is being recycled under the new Borough of Culture guise.  Turf Projects have in the past year received £145,000.00 of Borough of Culture spending and received £78,745.38 in ‘Community Ward Budgets’ and ‘Culture Growth Fund’ between 2017 and 2021.  BH Live Ltd have received £75,000.00 for the Borough of Culture and received £39,095.25 for Community Ward and Culture Growth in 2017-21.  Similar breakdowns are true for Dance Umbrella, £45,000.00 and £70,269.24, and the London Mozart Players, £65,000.00 and £28,240.00.

A full breakdown of the identified Borough of Culture spending so far is below:

Turf Projects_£145,000.00
Stanley Arts£127,000.00
BH Live Ltd£75,000.00
London Mozart Players£65,000.00
Fashion Meets Music Collective C.I.C.£50,000.00
Dance Umbrella£45,000.00
The Brit School£45,000.00
Savvy Theatre£43,000.00
Redacted£36,500.00
Apsara Arts£32,475.00
Croydon Town Centre Bid£30,000.00
Boundless Theatre£30,000.00
CR34 t/a Mr Fox£28,000.00
Designblock Studio Ltd£9,895.00
London Road Business Ltd£5,000.00
E-People.Com Ltd£2,700.00

“We understand given past financial mismanagement why the council felt the need to increase Council Tax by 15% this year, but how can this be justified when another £975,000 of unnecessary spending is being recycled, much of it to the same old organisations”

These organisations no doubt provide the services requested from them and in doing so exhibit good value for money. The question is ‘do we really need them?’  We understand given past financial mismanagement why the council felt the need to increase Council Tax by 15% this year, but how can this be justified when another £975,000 of unnecessary spending is being recycled, much of it to the same old organisations.

Spending £1,350,000 of GLA money, and £1,900,000 from Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage, isn’t any better.  These are funded by the same tax increases we all have to pay, and in the case of the GLA will likely soon be just another justification for the funds ULEZ expansion will raise. 

Becoming the London Borough of Culture was signed up for by the last Labour administration, but surely the Section 114 notices and de facto bankruptcy was a great opportunity to ditch this luxury.  Croydon Council has reduced spending greatly to stabilise the boroughs finances.  Yet can we say things have really changed, when taxes are up 15%, we have front line service cuts, but are still spending a million pounds on fashionable arts.

#ThirdWednesday drinks – Wednesday 21st June

Come and meet-up with likeminded freedom lovers, at our #ThirdWednesday drinks at The George, Croydon on Wednesday 21st June, from 7pm. 

We will hold these in association with Dick Delingpole’s #ThirdWednesday Libertarian drinks club. 

Join us at The George. 17–21 George Street, Croydon. CR0 1LA on Wednesday 21st June, from 7pm.

Facebook: https://fb.me/e/1aZTLBMg2

Podcast Episode 82 – Simon Richards: Local Election Results & No Sunset for EU Laws

We are joined by Simon Richards, the former CEO of The Freedom Association, as we discuss the local election results and the delay in removing EU laws. We then chat with Simon about his time with the Freedom Association, the Better Off Out campaign, lockdowns, and the big issues of today.

Spreaker

iTunes

Google Podcasts

Podchaser

Podcast Addict		Deezer

Spotify

Stitcher

Castbox

Amazon

Contents:
00:00 – Intro
01:40 – Local Election Results
10:52 – Delay in Removing EU Laws
23:45 – Chat with Simon
50:26 – Outro

Chris Scott, Reform UK candidate, Horley Central & South ward, Reigate and Banstead Council.

We spoke with Chris Scott when he ran in Horley in 2022.  Chris is running again in this years local elections and we were delighted to hear more on the party, and Chris’ campaign for Reigate and Banstead Council.

“Far too many unacademic A-Level students are being steered towards inappropriate, “soft” university courses instead of some form of apprenticeship. This leaves them with the prospect of repaying a large debt”

So what is our take on the current dysfunctional governance of the United Kingdom? Or should I say our DIS-United Kingdom and, seven years after the Referendum, our status of having achieved Brexit in name only? How many of the laws that Parliament enacted at the behest of the European Commission have been repealed? When I last heard, none. it seems that the Prime Minister, who claims to have voted to Leave without campaigning for it, is in the thrall of Tory MPs who are instinctive Remainers. An increasing majority of his cabinet voted Remain and, one suspects, pay merely lip-service to Brexit.

In more general, national terms, Reform UK advocates that:

1) Schools should never again be closed during a pandemic. Literacy and numeracy must be prioritised. Sport must be offered and encouraged. Pupils should not be encouraged to question their sex. If any child shows signs of gender dysphoria, the parents must be consulted. Far too many unacademic A-Level students are being steered towards inappropriate, “soft” university courses instead of some form of apprenticeship. This leaves them with the prospect of repaying a large debt unless they fail to earn well in their subsequent careers.

2) The NHS is systemically broken, however excellent are its clinicians. Due to failure to train enough of our own, we are poaching too many foreign clinicians that are trained and needed in their home countries. Too much money is being wasted. The terms of service of GPs are counterproductive for their patients. Major revisions are essential, even if they involve some form of insurance or means-tested contributions for consultations. Excessive delays for consultations or treatment should qualify patients to go private at NHS expense. 

3) On immigration, it is unacceptable that people arriving illegally with no personal documentation by hazardous, highly expensive crossings of the English Channel should all be treated by default as genuine asylum-seekers at taxpayers’ expense and parachuted in large groups into small communities nationwide.

“People earning little more than the national median wage are becoming subject to 40% tax. That is grotesque”

4) Major tax reform is essential. People on low incomes should not be paying income tax at all. People earning little more than the national median wage are becoming subject to 40% tax. That is grotesque, as are the thresholds for inheritance tax. People who paid tax on their earnings throughout their lifetime should be entitled to hand the residual funds and property down to their children without further taxation.

5)  “Net Zero” must be abandoned. It will ruin our economy and cause serious hardship, particularly to people on low-to-medium incomes – unlike the legislators who dreamed it up. Globally futile, it will be ignored by the major world polluters, such as China and India, whose economies will profit at our expense. Wind and solar could never reliably supply even half our needs, and their energy output is non-storable in the present state of technology. Likewise, the ban on production of internal-combustion-engine cars from 2030 is impracticable and must be abandoned before it’s too late. It would reveal the limitations of our national grid, and deplete the finite, worldwide resources of minerals needed to produce batteries that last less than ten years and are extremely expensive to replace. Decades of neglect on nuclear technology after our early international lead have denied us its ideal role in supplying the base load for electricity generation. Given that the variable excess demand cannot be supplied reliably by wind and solar, and hydrogen is not widely available in the foreseeable future, fossil-fuels remain an essential energy source. Further exploitation of North Sea gas and oil reserves must be considered, as well as fracking, which our present prime minister promised to do during his Tory leadership campaign as recently as last autumn.

6) HMG boasts its alleged spending of 2% of GDP, but the war in Ukraine has highlighted the latter’s inadequacy. Our three armed services are left in a parlous state. The Royal Navy has two large aircraft carriers that are short of aircraft and, perhaps even worse, suitable escort vessels. The Army headcount is at an all-time low. In the RAF, aircrew are not flying enough to maintain experience levels. All three services are, it seems, more concerned with diversity than excellence.

“There is a general slide in government towards a form of woke, defeatist, social-Marxism that will persist as long as the main parties at Westminster are ruling the roost in the UK”

7) There is a general slide in government towards a form of woke, defeatist, social-Marxism that will persist as long as the main parties at Westminster are ruling the roost in the UK. When elected, Reform UK MPs will challenge that damaging, conventional mindset.  

Of course, none of the above issues can be at the forefront of my local-election campaign in Horley Central & South. 

“Town centres must be reinvigorated with cuts in business rates, free car-parking, more residential accommodation and targeted investment. In Horley, too many small retailers have been priced out”

In addition to the issues I have raised on the front of my personal election leaflet (below), Reform UK proposes the following policies in local government.

(a) Local communities should have more say in their affairs than at present. A random example of that would be the recent overruling by HMG of Braintree Council’s attempt to stop so-called asylum-seekers being accommodated on the old aerodrome at Weathersfield to the detriment of the local community.

(b) Unnecessary local spending should be cut. Do lesbian, gay and bisexual residents really appreciate pedestrian crossings being repainted in rainbow colours?

(c) Town centres must be reinvigorated with cuts in business rates, free car-parking, more residential accommodation and targeted investment. In Horley, too many small retailers have been priced out. 

As a Reigate and Banstead district Councillor for Reform UK in Horley Central & South, I would make my own decisions on local policy initiatives without being subject to diktat from party HQ.

You can read our first interview with Chris at https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/chris-scott-reform-uk/.  You can also contact Chris at [email protected] and find out more about Reform UK and their policies via https://www.reformparty.uk/.