Local Elections In Croydon.

I've been hesitant in bringing this up because experience tells me that if it fails Croydon's political powers will take it as a huge endorsement even though this will be the extent on my campaign.

On Thursday May 22nd (22/5/14) not only does Croydon join the rest of the European Union (EU) in the election for the European Parliament but along with the rest of London it holds local council elections in which all 70 seats will be contested. This provides the residents of Croydon who are worried about the borough's rising crime rate and the police's apparent tolerance of that crime with an opportunity to register a protest by voting out the incumbents. That is to say you simply vote against the people who are already in power in order to remove them from power.

So in the Bensham Manor ward where I live you would vote against Alison Butler, Donna Gray and Raj Rajendran who all represent the Labour Party.

In the near by Thornton Heath ward you would vote against Louisa Woodley, Matthew Kyeremeh and Pat Clouder who all represent the Labour Party.

In the Ashburton ward you would vote against Adam Kellett, Avril Slipper and Eddy Aram who all represent the Conservative Party.

In the Fairfield ward you would vote against David Fitze, Susan Winborn and Vidhi Mohan who all represent the Conservative Party.

You can check who are the incumbent councillors in your ward here; http://www.croydon.gov.uk/democracy/elected/allcouncillors/

Obviously simply switching Conservative controlled wards to Labour control and vice versa simply wouldn't work and this form of protest works best everyone votes for a single candidate to gain maximum impact. That of course creates the obvious question of who to vote for? As the Liberal Democrats aren't represented at all within Croydon council they would be the obvious choice but they are very much part of the political mainstream and actually make up part of the national government. As such I think it would send a stronger message if everyone voted for minority parties.

So if people were considering voting for the Conservative Party I think they should vote for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) instead and people who were considering voting for the Labour Party should vote for the Green Party instead.

(Originally Posted) 14:00 on 16/5/14 (UK date).