Dragon Interview: George Potter, Liberal Democrat, West Surrey Council Election Candidate

Published on: 2 May, 2026
Updated on: 2 May, 2026

Dragon editor Martin Giles invited leading representative candidates from all the political parties standing in the Guildford wards for the new West Surrey Council to be interviewed.

The interviews have been conducted by Zoom, over the period April 25-30.

We are, over a three-day period, publishing those interviews, two on each day. The order of publication was drawn from a hat.

This interview is with George Potter, one of the two Liberal Democrat candidates standing in the Guildford East ward. The interview was conducted on Saturday, April 25.

Next, and final interview in the series, is with Claire Whitehouse, The Green Party.

Click here to view other candidate interviews.

Responses to Dragon Interview: George Potter, Liberal Democrat, West Surrey Council Election Candidate

Simon House Reply

May 5, 2026 at 12:29 pm

Despite no mention of Guildford Parish Council in the Lib Dems’ campaign literature and despite a majority [of those taking part in GBC’s public consultation] against the formation of a parish council [most] Lib Dems are determined for this to go ahead, in the process, creating an extra tax on top of the council tax.

No information is forthcoming about what we’ll be getting for the extra tax. The whole subject seems to be off limits when it comes to this election.

What allowances will the parish councillors be able to claim? Will they be getting pension benefits? Who will audit the council? Will there really be no limit on how much the tax will rise? These are some of the issues I’d hoped would be addressed. Assurances that costs will be reasonable, in my view, is not an assurance as anyone who is or has been a leaseholder will know.

Editor’s response: A Guildford parish/town council cannot now be set up without the approval of the new West Surrey Council, once in operation. The average Surrey town council precept is £92 (Band D property). It was estimated that a precept for a Guildford Town Council would be £69. I am unaware of any parish council in Guildford Borough, even larger ones such as Ash, Worplesdon and Shalford that currently pays councillor allowances. However it may be permissible for councillors to claim expenses. According to online information, it is possible for parish councils to pay allowances to councillors but in practice, where agreed, these are normally very small.
Dennis Paul Reply

May 5, 2026 at 11:19 pm

Simon is correct to highlight these concerns. Not a peep on this in the Lib Dem literature. It remains to be seen if a town council is approved, but if it is, it will perpetuate a political “blame game” between councils and pass on uncapped precept rises through the back door.

For example, charging for street cleaning, waste and ground services through town council administration. It will also lead toan extra layer of administration we can ill afford.

Dennis Paul is a Reform UK candidate for Guildford East in the West Surrey Council election
George Potter Reply

May 10, 2026 at 3:35 pm

Just to correct Mr House and Mr Paul, the parish council was definitely mentioned in Liberal Democrat leaflets. I am currently looking at a copy of a Lib Dem leaflet from February this year, sent out across Guildford, where the headline story is:

“PROTECT OUR VOICE
The Lib Dems back the campaign for a Guildford Parish Council”

The article goes on to talk about how the Lib Dems in Guildford are supporting “a new Parish Council to ensure Guildford can continue to have its local voice heard”, and encourages residents to respond to the public consultation by 1st March.

Of course the key decision, on whether or not to recommend a parish council, was already taken by borough councillors, with a cross-party majority, back in March.

I can completely respect people who don’t like the idea of a parish council, who don’t see the value in it, and who feel that any parish precept, no matter how small, is too high a price to pay for a local body to stand up for Guildford on local issues.

I disagree with them, of course, but that’s a valid point of view to hold.

However, to claim that the Lib Dems didn’t mention the issue (when it in fact was mentioned prominently on multiple leaflets over the past year), is simply false. No one can claim that the Lib Dems didn’t advertise our support for a parish council, given, in addition to leaflets, we also posted about it on social media and had articles about it on our website.

It is similarly false to claim that a majority of residents were against a parish council in the consultation. There was in fact no outright majority either for or against a parish, which is precisely why councillors had to use their best judgement in deciding what the right course of action should be, given the absence of a clear majority view one way or the other.
Sara Tokunaga Reply

May 12, 2026 at 6:30 pm

I only received one letter from the Liberal Democrats during the election campaign and no mention was made of the parish council. It was mentioned to me by the Green Party candidate, who took the trouble to actually engage with the electorate by knocking on doors and speaking to prospective voters.