Nominations Close for Local Election, the Most Unpredictable in Living Memory

Published on: 5 Apr, 2019
Updated on: 5 Apr, 2019

Surprisingly, despite today’s febrile political climate, fewer candidates will contest the 48 seats at Guildford Borough Council on May 2 than fought in the 2015 election.

Rumours are rife that all parties have struggled to find willing candidates. Nominations closed on Tuesday (April 3, 2019) and there are 137 candidates on the lists published by Guildford Borough Council, down from 179 in 2015.

Probably because of the reduced numbers, in part at least, some shrewd battlefield selections by the opposition parties have emerged. They have obviously marshalled their limited resources, concentrating them where they feel they have most chance of success. In other wards, they seem to have left the field clear for other opposition parties so any non-Tory vote can be concentrated.

The most obvious example is Clandon & Horsley where there will be a straight fight between the Conservatives, whose two incumbents are standing down, and three allies, two from Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV) and one from the Guildford Greenbelt Group (GGG).

Unsurprisingly, the dominant Conservatives are putting up the most candidates, 48 or one for each seat available. The only party to do so.

The Liberal Democrats are fielding significantly fewer candidates than 2015, dropping from 44 to just 31. As expected, they are concentrating on the town centre wards, their happiest hunting-grounds over the years, and are not contesting the outlying Lovelace seat (Ripley, Wisley and Ockham) where former Lib Dem Colin Cross defected to the Independents.

The number of Labour candidates has also dropped, from 37 to 29 despite what is said to be a good-sized membership, reported to be larger than that of the Tories in July 2018.

New kids on the block R4GV, a group which overlaps with the four-member Independent Alliance at Millmead, are managing to field 17 candidates even though they were formed as a political group only in January. Clearly, they have a deal with GGG so they would not clash over the same seats and, in the town, they seem to be concentrating on wards where they feel the Conservatives might be vulnerable, such as Holy Trinity and Christchurch. GGG is fielding only six candidates, down from 24 in 2015.

In the smaller local parties, there are only two Green candidates, in Tillingbourne and Ash Wharf, three for the Peace Party, all in Westborough, and one unaligned Independent in Shalford. UKIP has disappeared.

All parties agree on one truth, that this election is the most unpredictable in living memory. To imagine the dominant Conservatives losing control of the council is difficult, but the unprecedented turbulence of the national political situation could deter their traditional supporters from the polls to join the normal majority who don’t vote.

Those voters who distrust or dislike the Local Plan might be tempted by the Independents and those put off by the Conservative Party’s bumbling handling of Brexit could protest by voting Lib Dem or Labour.

Unlike Waverley, there are no uncontested seats. In our neighbouring borough, two Conservatives are already sure of their seats because they have no opponents.

For full nomination lists visit the GBC website here.

An earlier version of this report contained some errors for which we apologise.

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