Letter: Sir Jeremy Is Right, Voters Do Use Local Elections To Send a Message

Published on: 15 May, 2026
Updated on: 15 May, 2026

Isabelle Trubshaw interviewing Sir Jeremy Hunt

From Angela Richardson

former Conservative MP for Guildford

In response to: Dragon Interview – MP Jeremy Hunt says Local Democracy Is Broken

This a good interview to watch. Well done Isabelle Trubshaw on the international, national and local mix of questions.

It will be interesting to see how The Guildford Dragon NEWS adapts its coverage to our new local government structure, but I hope part of that will be hearing more regularly from local MPs who will become a more important focus for the immediate area of Guildford once GBC ceases to exist.

Sir Jeremy is right in his observation that people do use the ballot box to send a message in local elections to national parties on national issues. That has been obvious to me in conversations on doorsteps over many years, none more so than May 2019 and Brexit, where voting intentions were ideologically contradictory, eg voting Lib Dem in locals and Brexit Party in the European elections to protest.

To be fair, it worked! We might also be seeing it working in the same way as a referendum on Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Interesting times. Perhaps some more scrutiny of our Westminster politicians on national issues by this excellent local newspaper is warranted.

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