A huge thanks to all involved in our democratic process

A huge thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s local elections, it was brilliant to see the highest turnout I’ve ever come across outside of a General Election year.

Of course, that unexpectedly high turnout put considerable pressure on the excellent elections team at Crawley Borough Council and all those who sign-up to run polling stations and count the votes. They all play a vital role in making our elections work and our democracy owes them a great deal.

Congratulations and commiserations to both the successful and unsuccessful candidates. An unusually high number of incumbent councillors weren’t re-elected this time around, and I’d like to thank them for the work they have done for the town. That goes for councillors across the aisle, including two of the town’s longest serving councillors: Bob Lanzer and Richard Burrett. While there are many areas of politics where we have disagreed over the years, I have never had reason to doubt that they were doing what they genuinely believed to be in the best interests of the people they were elected to serve.

Best of luck to those now starting out as councillors for the first time. It takes a little time to find your feet in public office, but I—and I’m sure the communities which elected them—look forward to them delivering on the promises they made to voters over the next year.

Unfortunately, there was a down-side to this election. People say that the word ‘racism’ is overused these days, but what else can we call it when people who have lived their entire lives in this country are told they should be deported, when Antisemitic and Islamophobic phrases are written on ballot papers, and racist terminology regularly used online. Are we okay that people are now threatened with assault for participating in the democratic process?

There are minimum standards of behaviour we have a right to expect by being part of a society, but unless all reasonable people are prepared to do their bit to oppose those creating this hatred, I suspect things will only get worse.