An appeal from Rosco Paterson Reform UK co-ordinator for Surrey.
“all candidates are important, and any candidate allows us to get the Reform UK logo and name onto the voting slips”
May 4th seems close but not touching. The Reform UK process for the application by and the selection of council candidates, although not overlong, means we must get things going quickly. The deadlines imposed by the councils themselves for meetings with candidates and election agents are also pretty aggressive.
Resources are a limiting factor against this timescale, and we fully understand that candidates standing now, for the most part, will not be able to manage a fully equipped campaign and everything that goes with it, but all candidates are important, and any candidate allows us to get the Reform UK logo and name onto the voting slips. If we can pass 800 candidates then we get a party political broadcast; that would be a real win.
If you decide to do this and also give it a go for the election, we promise to communicate with members in the county (and outside) with the hope of assisting you for leafletting and door-knocking. So as an ardent request please contact me ([email protected]) if you are interested and willing to:
Stand in the forthcoming council elections on May 4th, (for those eligible in Surrey)
Could be available, for leafletting, and/or
Could be available, for buddying up with a candidate for doorstep chats.
I was asked the other day how many seats were up for grabs and our starting position. I think you will see from the following table just how many opportunities there are in all 11 boroughs in the county. Some councils elect all their councillors every four years and some rotate one-third of their councillors each year, the size of the prize is still considerable. (The table also shows the control of each borough as published after the last major elections and a few recent updates):
Elmbridge
16
NOC Residents Assoc & LibDem
Epsom and Ewell
13
Residents Associations
Guildford
48
NOC LibDem Minority Admin
Mole Valley
14
LibDem
Reigate and Banstead
15
Conservative
Runnymede
14
Conservative
Spelthorne
39
Conservative
Surrey Heath
35
Conservative
Tandridge
14
NOC Residents Assoc & Independent
Waverley
57
NOC Residents Assoc & LibDem
Woking
10
LibDem
The total is 275 seats; that is over one-third of the target required for the whole country, just here in Surrey, for the party’s political broadcast.
The European Court of Human Rights intervened to stop the deportation flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda. The UK is a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.
We asked your views on: How should the government react to the ruling by the ECHR?
“Whatever the outcome, the government should withdraw from The Convention and replace the existing UK Human Rights Act, which enshrines The Convention into British law”
As a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, the UK really has no choice but to follow The ECHR’s urgent interim measure and await its full judgement. I’m not sure if the UK can appeal the interim order in the meantime.
Whatever the outcome, the government should withdraw from The Convention and replace the existing UK Human Rights Act, which enshrines The Convention into British law, with an Act that provides the same protections as The Convention but with the UK Supreme Court as the final arbiter. It should also commit to enshrine any future changes to The Convention into UK law, subject to there being no jurisdictions outside the UK courts.
Having served notice of its withdrawal from The Convention, the government should urgently consider ignoring any rulings of The ECHR and rely on the rulings of the UK Supreme Court on those matters.
Brexit campaigner Georgina Guillem.
“Human Rights did not begin with the ECHR the UK has always had the reputation for setting high standards both domestically and internationally”
The ECHR has stopped the first fight of Asylum Seekers to Rwanda. This of course should have been considered as all European institutions (EU or otherwise) will do all it can to thwart whatever the UK does to try to address this problem. Likewise, all the do-gooders that protest. There must be a solution to this ever-increasing problem of mostly young men arriving by boat without trying to be accepted through the right channels. Human Rights did not begin with the ECHR the UK has always had the reputation for setting high standards both domestically and internationally.
Not to honour a treaty once signed is wrong, however the safeguard of the UK must be considered, therefore it is also wrong not to put its wellbeing first. A true Brexiteer wanted to leave the EU, all the institutions of Europe and return full sovereignty without a deal, had we done this we might not have had all this agony. Also the Northern Ireland Mess might have been avoided.
Brexiter Jeremy Wraith who has contributed several articles to our site.
“Why did the interviewer on Sky not ask him why they did not walk into one of the British embassies in the many safe countries they crossed and ask for asylum there, France in particular?”
I watched an interview on Sky TV with the Chief Executive of the Refugee Council. He said that the refugees have a human right to come to the UK and claim asylum here as the refugees in Palestine cannot walk into the British Embassy in Palestine to ask for asylum. Why did the interviewer on Sky not ask him why they did not walk into one of the British embassies in the many safe countries they crossed and ask for asylum there, France in particular?
I firmly believe that the UK should cancel its involvement in the ECHR as the UK is perfectly capable of defending the human rights of its own citizens. So why are we relying on foreign bodies to dictate our human rights policies for us.
The quicker we withdraw from many other European and EU treaties and rules the better!
“If a signatory country is prevented from deciding who can enter and, therefore, whom it can legally deport, it is no longer sovereign”
Chris Scott stood for Reform UK in the Horley Central and South Ward of Reigate & Banstead Council, in May’s local elections.
I’m no lawyer, nor even a student, so my response will be based mainly on what I’ve gleaned from media interviews and discussions since the eleventh-hour ECHR ruling on the planned Home Office deportation flight to Kigali last week.
Although there was a lack of transparency by the ECHR on which judge, or judges were hurriedly called in to rule on deportations that had just been ruled legal by our own Supreme Court – the third English court to consider the appellants’ case – I guess it was unlikely that the Home Secretary would have been prepared to flout the decision on this occasion. I wonder, however, if the Home Office lawyers were expecting it and, if so, whether Miss Patel had been warned of the probability. Flouting international law is not something one would want or expect HMG to do in haste.
The UK was, evidently, the chief author of the original convention on human rights for Europe in the aftermath of the horrific events that were revealed during and after WW2. That we should have drafted it was right and proper. We had been the only European combatant to maintain our democratic freedoms during the war and had played a major part – initially single-handed, but for the stout help of our Empire countries – in saving Europe and much of the world from tyranny.
A court, also bearing the initials ECHR, was created. But, as I understand it, the convention’s original provisions have been extended and others added to the extent that the court seems even to have become a threat to national sovereignty. If a signatory country is prevented from deciding who can enter and, therefore, whom it can legally deport, it is no longer sovereign. Based in the same campus as the European parliament in Strasbourg, one suspects that the Court’s advocates may share similar aspirations to members of the Council of Europe and Eurocrats who, for reasons of their own, wish to lessen the autonomy of the EU’s nation states.
There is, therefore, a strong argument for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR and to give precedence to a new bill of rights seven decades after we framed it. This would doubtless provoke wide international condemnation, much of it sneering and disingenuous, from countries that have in many cases come late to the table of human rights. After all, it started here in Blighty over eight centuries ago with Magna Carta. The UK should continue to hold its head high on human rights and perhaps take a new lead, as we did in 1950.
We are joined by Graham Eardley, a spokesman for The Bruges Group, as we discuss the European Court of Human Rights blocking the Government’s Rwanda plan for asylum seekers and the proposed changes to the Northern Irish Protocol. We then chat with Graham about his background and the great work of The Bruges Group.
Reform UK the successor to The Brexit Party is standing candidates in May’s local elections. We spoke with Chris Scott who is standing for them in the Horley Central and South Ward of Reigate & Banstead Council.
Chris thank-you for your time.
“Having spent many years flying European Airbuses, facilitated by courses at Toulouse, I remain a strong proponent of Anglo-European cooperation. However, it’s easily forgotten that the UK was making wings for Airbus before we joined the EEC, and the Anglo-French Concorde was conceived in the 1960s”
Tell us a bit about yourself and your party?
Like my friend and Reigate colleague, Joe Fox (standing in South Park and Woodhatch Ward), I’m a retired, septuagenarian grandfather. Born and having lived in beautiful Surrey all my adult life, I nevertheless spent most of my childhood in Africa. My wife and I have two surviving children and four surviving grandchildren. We live on the North Downs with our pets: currently an old cat and a young Ridgeback bitch. Apart from walking the dog on country footpaths, my leisure interests include minor car maintenance and home DIY, tending our garden (though I’m no gardener!), photography and classical music.
I travelled widely in my career as an airline pilot. Having spent many years flying European Airbuses, facilitated by courses at Toulouse, I remain a strong proponent of Anglo-European cooperation. However, it’s easily forgotten that the UK was making wings for Airbus before we joined the EEC, and the Anglo-French Concorde was conceived in the 1960s.
In 1975, I voted for the UK to remain in the then EEC, but Brussels’s handling of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 led me to increasing scepticism of our EU membership. A lifelong Tory voter, by 2015 I was also disillusioned with that party’s abandonment of conservatism. I became a UKIP activist in time for the 2015 General Election, from which the party emerged with only one parliamentary seat in return for more national votes than the LibDems and SNP combined. Nevertheless, UKIP’s long campaign forced David Cameron to make and honour his manifesto promise of a referendum.
After the referendum, UKIP became increasingly rudderless and I resigned early in 2019, joining The Brexit Party. Within months, we had won the European elections and forced a change of Prime Minister, despite having no representation at Westminster. Our standing down of all candidates against Tory incumbents allowed Boris Johnson to win an 80-seat majority at the general election that December on the promise of Brexit.
Boris’s deeply-flawed Withdrawal Agreement, which has left us subject to decisions by European judges and living in a dis-United Kingdom, was signed by both sides in January 2020. The resulting recall of our MEPs from Europe led to many of them leaving the party and active politics to pursue other interests. Although Brexit was and remains far from complete, the party’s name was no longer appropriate and, in 2021, we were relaunched as Reform UK to emphasise the task of challenging the cosy two-party system at Westminster and the electoral system that perpetuates it.
Reform UK’s national policies are radically different from those of the present government, which today is neither conservative nor libertarian. The Tory leadership has increasingly embraced socially-Marxist ideals and globalism, which undermine our heritage and the concept of the nation-state.
We were and are strongly opposed to authoritarian lockdowns and vaccination mandates in the event of a pandemic, and advocate an NHS that protects the people, not the reverse.
We regard the present energy policies, particularly net-zero and reliance on unreliable wind and solar, as economically suicidal and globally ineffectual. They are already creating financial hardship for decent, hard-working people.
On immigration, we oppose priority being given, in effect, to economic migrants who arrive illegally over genuine applicants.
We would cancel HS2, primarily an inter-city vanity project and costly in terms of money and adverse effects on householders and the countryside. Rail links elsewhere need instead to be improved.
“the provision of at least one more recreation ground – preferably east of the Balcombe Road – for residents of all ages to stretch their legs or relax. I would keep a close eye on unsuitable developments affecting residents and threatening green spaces”
You’re standing in the Horley Central and South Ward, can you introduce the ward to us and what you can bring to the area?
It may seem odd that I’m standing in a Horley ward at the south-eastern extremity of the Borough, while living at the other end. I can’t claim to know Horley well, although I was based at nearby Gatwick for 21 years. The reason is that I’m the Reform UK spokesperson for East Surrey and, due to the vagaries of parliamentary and local-government boundaries, residents of the Horley Central & South ward of the Reigate & Banstead borough find themselves in the East Surrey parliamentary constituency instead of Reigate. My friend and colleague, Joseph Fox, represents Reform UK in Reigate, and is standing in the Southfields and Woodhatch ward.
Reform UK’s local policies include protecting green spaces from housing developments, and ensuring the latter include provision for the extra load on local infrastructure, transport, schooling and medical facilities. We would promote the revitalisation of high-streets with free parking and cuts to business rates, as well as encouraging more housing in town centres.
Horley town centre is certainly in need of regeneration, though well served by its railway station. There is some light industry, based mainly near the railway line. The residential areas include apartment blocks near town, becoming less crowded and leafier further out.
My individual aspirations, since banging on doors in the ward, include the provision of at least one more recreation ground – preferably east of the Balcombe Road – for residents of all ages to stretch their legs or relax. I would keep a close eye on unsuitable developments affecting residents and threatening green spaces. Other issues will no doubt come to my attention during the remaining fortnight before the election.
“With the Tories currently in charge – and, in Horley Central & South, three councillors out of three – it’s time to elect someone with a fresh and critical perspective to challenge their complacency”
More widely what would you like to see change at Reigate & Banstead Council and across the borough?
Throughout the borough, the scale of fly-tipping is increasing and, in my opinion, this is being encouraged by hefty charges at the Earlswood recycling centre and elsewhere, even for the kind of waste that is produced by routine home maintenance. The Surrey County Council takes that revenue. The Borough, on the other hand, has to collect rubbish from streets and verges. Meanwhile, farmers and others have the expense and potential hazard of removing it from their land.
Further, I’m astonished that, given the current, post-pandemic advice from central government, the Town Hall in Reigate has only partially reopened to the public, closing at 2 pm. Worse than that, it’s evident that the majority of its business is being conducted by staff still working from their homes. This represents a failure of leadership in the Town Hall. As a council tax-payer, I’ve written to them for an explanation and look forward to the response.
With the Tories currently in charge – and, in Horley Central & South, three councillors out of three – it’s time to elect someone with a fresh and critical perspective to challenge their complacency.
How can people find out more or get in touch if they want to get involved?
Reform UK the successor to The Brexit Party is standing candidates in May’s local elections. We spoke with Joseph Fox who is standing for them in the South Park and Woodhatch Ward of Reigate & Banstead Council.
Joseph thank-you for your time.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your party?
I am a 73 year old grandfather. I have lived and worked in the borough for most of my life. I became involved with EU-secessionist politics in 1995, and joined UKIP in 1999. I stood for UKIP in 25 elections from 2001 to 2019 – I came second in the 2015 General Election. But UKIP took a wrong turn after the referendum. The Brexit Party proved immediately popular, and with Brexit (nominally) done, Reform UK seemed to me to be the way forward. I like it for its pragmatism and lack of ideological baggage.
“Nothing is more than four floors high, and there is plenty of greenery. But like everywhere else around here, it is under threat of high-density development”
You’re standing in the South Park and Woodhatch Ward, can you introduce the ward to us and what you can bring to the area?
South Park and Woodhatch ward is about two thirds ex-council housing and one third moderately prosperous private housing. Nothing is more than four floors high, and there is plenty of greenery. But like everywhere else around here, it is under threat of high-density development.
“last year, they spent £35,000 on fitting lockable lids on some recycling bins, thus forcing us to post our rubbish through small holes or slots. And I thought they were meant to encourage recycling!”
More widely what would you like to see change at Reigate & Banstead Council and across the borough?
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is as capable of wasting public money as anyone else. For example, last year, they spent £35,000 on fitting lockable lids on some recycling bins, thus forcing us to post our rubbish through small holes or slots. And I thought they were meant to encourage recycling! Experience shows that the presence of minor parties on local councils does them a lot of good.
How can people find out more or get in touch if they want to get involved?
We are joined by Peter Sonnex from the Brexit Party as we discuss the latest COVID restrictions, the Internal Market Bill and whether it breaks “International Law” and the recent revelation of the wages of the BBC’s “stars”. We also consider the latest developments at Croydon Council and yet another leadership change for UKIP.
Finally, Peter talks to us about the Un-locked Group and how people can get involved.
We are joined by Peter Sonnex of the Brexit Party, Maureen Martin of the Christian Peoples Alliance and Hoong-Wai Cheah of UKIP to discuss Christianity & UK Politics. We ask them:
Why Christianity is important to them?
How they think religion and politics should mix?
How Christianity should inform policy?
Should we have an established church, and how they think the CofE is performing?
What should we be doing about Christian persecution abroad?
What are their predictions for the future of Christianity in the UK?
We are joined by Bill Etheridge, the former UKIP, Libertarian Party & Brexit Party MEP, as we discuss the Taxpayers Alliance’s City Hall Rich List, a potential new trade deal with japan and the Cancellation Culture attacking our historic statues and even beloved TV shows & films. We then chat with Bill about his time in politics, the demise of UKIP and the future of Classical Liberalism in this country.
“over 10 years of supposedly Conservative government and I’m old enough to remember before they got in, they were going to sort all of this out and have bonfires of quangos… still more than a decade on these obscene salaries are being paid out”
“we’re still an enormous economy, we’re very important in terms of diplomatic links, we are a hugely important country and of course people want to do deals with us”
“all of these things they want to erase, so they can start a new narrative, start from year zero. This is a modern day version of a cultural revolution”
“there was a little game that the staff that worked with us as MEPs, used to sit down and do a bingo, and they would try and find the Thatcher or Reagan quotes that I slipped into my speeches”
“Nigel Farage is the most effective and inspiring politician for patriotic right of centre politics, that there has been for many years”
“partly I wanted to make a statement that Libertarianism is something people should look at. Because it’s not discussed, people don’t talk about Libertarianism”
“it’s a tough old game being in politics, especially when you’ve got a bit of a reputation behind you, you become a target for all sorts of things, and if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it for a party I actually believe in and it’s worth making the sacrifices”
“If you believe in something, don’t just sit in the pub with a couple of mates talking about it, don’t just type something on Twitter, or whatever. Actually actively pursue that interest and try to make a difference”
We are joined by Peter Sonnex from the Brexit Party as we discuss the ongoing COVID 19 Lockdown and the Labour Party leadership election results. We then chat with Peter about his experiences in the military and Whitehall along with the “Stockport Declaration” and future plans for the Brexit Party.
With the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland all but certain to leave the various clutches of the EU and its institutions on the 31st of December 2020 (after some false starts), Peter Sonnex – Parliamentary Candidate for the Brexit Party in Croydon South, then Croydon Central – reflects on the Brexit Party, his role in the 2019 General Election and the future. Is that Brexit done, then?
“I am proud of what we achieved. I remain humbled by the selfless support of a team of volunteers, coming from all walks of life and political persuasions”
As a veteran, definitely not a politician, I was involved in
politics for the first time to achieve an effect: delivery on the result of the
2016 Referendum; the UK becoming, once again, a self-governing, independent
coastal nation; and, setting the conditions for wider political reform. I am
proud of what we achieved. I remain humbled by the selfless support of a team
of volunteers, coming from all walks of life and political persuasions, who
committed themselves in all weathers to the causes of upholding our democracy
and restoring trust in our institutions. We got it done!
My wife, Lesley, was the greatest supporter. Without
question she walked more miles, delivered more leaflets, stood on more street
stalls and, as my election agent, went through the nomination process twice as
I stood first in Croydon South, then Croydon Central. My debt of gratitude, as
with my carbon footprint, is irredeemable.
My campaign manager, “Chris”, provided energy and
challenge in equal measure. His experience, local knowledge and drive for
justice as much as political reform were invaluable. It is a sad reflection of
politics, with its unnecessarily toxic environment for those who choose to get
involved, that “Chris” will be known only as “Chris”.
Some wailing about ‘splitting the vote’, the very odd expletive when canvassing and petty online trolling aside – I enjoyed the election experience; from being energised by political rallies, the overwhelmingly positive reception on the fabled “doorstep”, street stalls, hustings, leafleting, social media interactions to media opportunities – all mysteries hitherto. Even without the prospect of electoral success, save for any seismic national factor which didn’t materialise, I was compelled to take part. I felt it was important enough to provide a voice and a candidate on the burning issues of the day. More than I could have hoped for, I was marginalised (some may say, brilliantly) by the Conservative Party campaign as they necessarily and increasingly took up the rhetoric, focus, determination and manifesto (Contract) of the Brexit Party and Nigel Farage.
Listening to Croydon’s Chris Philp MP and Councillor Mario
Creatura change their tune on the EU in the interests of capturing the
electorate and for their party to exist at all, let alone remain in power, was
as enlightening about politics as it was – a sad reflection on me – amusing.
Sorry…
Strategically, I think there were four elements to the (even
now barely a year old) Brexit Party achieving its effect:
Winning the 23 May 2019 election to the EU Parliament, especially in the Labour Party heartlands of the North East and the North West (the so-called Red Wall). Labour had been found wanting among the five million Labour Party supporters who had voted to leave the EU. This became key in winning support for the Conservative Party who promised to “Get Brexit Done!”
Failure, thank goodness, at getting Theresa May’s Chequers-launched withdrawal agreement through parliament, combined with the EU election result, led to a change of PM and a new cabinet;
The Brexit Party standing up over 600 credible prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) on the 4th of November 2019 provided an existential threat to the Conservative Party. Even the Evening Standard was forced to headline that day with “Nigel Farage pushes Tory general election campaign off track” (as ministers plead [with] him to withdraw Brexit Party Candidates); and,
The unilateral decision on the 11th of November, just a week later, to stand down 317 Brexit Party PPCs* so as not to risk either a hung parliament, a second EU referendum or a referendum on Scottish independence.
[*The strict rule of not standing in a seat with a
Conservative hold or win in the 2017 General Election was not without criticism
(understatement). It did not account for seats where ‘remainer’ Conservatives
had joined other parties or where they had retired or otherwise stood down. A
great deal of talent and political goodwill/horsepower was lost or
disenfranchised as a result.]
“the government’s approach to control of our territorial waters, are being monitored by legacy Brexit Party MEPs and supporters”
That said, operationally on Brexit, there is still a long
way to go… Much remains to be resolved. We should be most wary of the following
during the transition period:
Our contingent liability to the European
Investment Bank (EIB). After joining the EU, the UK became a member of the EIB,
with a 16% capital share. The UK has contributed over €3.5bn and has over
€35.4bn of ‘callable capital’. ‘Callable capital’ is a contingent liability,
i.e. money which the UK would be obliged to pay if the EIB suffered losses it
was unable to cover using its accumulated reserves. As shareholders in the
European Central Bank (ECB), our contingent liabilities could be as high as
€200-400bn – who knows…;
The wedge hammered into our Union (in relation
to NI) by continued ‘dynamic alignment’;
Existing commitment or further consideration (as
required in the Political Declaration, given legal effect in the Withdrawal
Agreement) of integration in military Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO),
similar to NATO, as part of the EU’s security and defence policy (CSDP) over
normal bilateral cooperation as necessary in the national interest;
Fragility of the Eurozone economies;
Fragility of EU cohesion amid, among other
things, high EU youth unemployment; and,
Challenges on the Greece-Turkey border as we
speak!
These topics, with the government’s approach to control of our territorial waters, are being monitored by legacy Brexit Party MEPs and supporters as part of a Brexit Barometer. We are not going away until Brexit is truly done.
I am no cheerleader for the Conservative Party, but…
Nationally, I think we can be heartened by the government’s
opening approaches to Brexit negotiations. The sticking points at the end of
the first week are those relating to our independence: withdrawal from the
European Convention on Human Rights; the role of the European Court of Justice;
the maintenance of a level playing field for UK and EU businesses; and,
conditions on future access for EU fishing fleets to UK waters. The EU may just
be realising any final deal has to respect that the UK shall be independent of
its institutional orbit, laws and courts.
I think we can be encouraged by the government’s intention
to honour manifesto pledges on immigration and infrastructure investment. It is
good to see the spotlights falling on the House of Lords and the BBC. Our
government and institutions must be held to account for what they promise, do
and say in our name. Whatever they do, they cannot be institutionally
dishonest, biased, unaccountable or wasteful.
I think we can be buoyed by the government’s handling of the
recent flooding and the ongoing Covid-19 Coronavirus outbreak. History will
tell… Would a Labour Party in government have done any better?
The gulf between provision in the NHS and in social care
remains to be addressed, and we are watching here, too. We are keen to see
enduring cross-party approaches and consensus removing health and social care
as perennial political footballs. No political party owns our NHS.
“We are in a complete pickle over free speech as debate, even the truth, is shut down by either cancelling an opposing view or legislating against it”
We are in a complete pickle over free speech as debate, even
the truth, is shut down by either cancelling an opposing view or legislating
against it. I see light in the topic of free speech being discussed more often
and more openly. It requires as much education as it does leadership and
example. But please, no more legislation to appease sensitivities…
As a teacher, leader and example, how good a PM is Boris
Johnson? We don’t know yet. On the evidence, he remains ambiguous, past and
present, on so many issues, including on those relating to the EU. He is
utterly unambiguous though on power as it relates to his party being the party
of government. The lesson learned in our democracy is to listen to the people.
In particular he is and needs to keep listening to those who lent their votes
in order to uphold our democracy and get Brexit done!
Locally, we have a failing Mayor of London hiding in plain
sight. On knife crime and housing alone he can only be found wanting. And yet,
on a typically low turnout he is most likely to be re-elected to deliver more
of the same in the face of no credible opposition candidate. It hurts that earlier
this year, the Brexit Party chose not to engage in the Mayoral, GLA and local
elections. Voices for an electorate looking at slates of least-worst options
have been denied. Democracy, eh?
“For Croydon, I really do hope for a democratically elected mayor to be empowered to deliver for everyone and be held to account by the borough as a whole”
Closer to home, we see the usual partisan Punch and Judy show that is the Croydon Borough Council. What a revelation it would be to see councillors united in their approach to knife crime, development, housing and reform solely in the Borough residents’ interest, and for the long term. For Croydon, I really do hope for a democratically elected mayor to be empowered to deliver for everyone and be held to account by the borough as a whole. DEMOC – now, let’s get that done!
