On behalf of all of our candidates in last week’s whole council election, I would like to say a huge thank to everyone who voted Conservative in Crawley. We achieved a fantastic set of Crawley results, which were all the more remarkable when nationally our party had its worst set of local election results since 1995.
With Crawley Borough Council reducing from 37 to 36 council seats and every seat up for election, we maintained our group size of 17 seats while Labour was reduced from 20 seats to 19. With almost an equal amount of votes cast across the town, we were only 69 votes away from having an 18/18 Council where Labour would have been forced to share power.
We fought a strong local campaign, having a positive vision for Crawley with councillors and candidates who are committed to their neighbourhoods. While we were not successful in winning a majority of Crawley’s council seats, we are now the largest possible opposition on Crawley Borough Council which will enable us to help bring about positive change.
It was pressure from us Conservatives as a large opposition in Crawley that forced Labour to climb down immediately before the election period started, with a reversal of their decision not to issue fines for people caught blatantly littering. Despite a daily cleaning regime, our town centre had been looking appalling with its discarded litter, cigarette ends and chewing gum. It was obvious to everyone except Labour that offenders needed a deterrent to challenge their anti-social behaviour.
I find it insightful that Labour does not want any opposition at all in Crawley. Their Council Leader has publicly stated that he wants to make Crawley “a Tory-free zone”. I believe that local government works best when you don’t have a one-party state like Labour aspire to in Crawley. That leads to complacency and arrogance knowing that no one can ever replace you. We Conservatives will continue to stand up for the people of Crawley and provide the strong, effective and constructive opposition we need in Crawley, but which Labour doesn’t want Crawley to have.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
8th May 2019