Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Labour in Croydon faces mounting challenges as financial troubles and declining membership numbers raise questions about the party’s local strength.
The Conservatives and Labour have controlled British politics for the last century.
The Conservatives and Labour have also controlled our council since the London Borough of Croydon was established in 1965. Over the course of those 60 years, the Conservatives controlled the Town Hall Chamber for the first 30 years, but Labour began to take the lead in the final 30.
Although Labour now holds the most council seats in Croydon (34 out of 70), the Conservatives were able to gain control of the council in 2022 after barely winning the first mayoral election.
With the Greens gaining two council seats and the Liberal Democrats gaining one, both at Labour’s expense, those elections three years ago demonstrated the first rifts in the Croydon duopoly.
However, since then, national politics have become even more divided, with the Greens making considerable progress and Reform and the Liberal Democrats making significant gains in the Conservative vote. Although Labour’s vote really fell in the 2024 General Election last July, the party’s own weaknesses were concealed by the Conservative collapse.
Since last year’s general election, Labour’s support has declined even more, according to national opinion polls and the English local elections scheduled for the beginning of May.
Labour lost almost two-thirds of the council seats it was fighting for in the local elections.
With numerous independents elected at both the national and local levels, the nation’s politics have become more pluralistic in recent years. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is currently an independent Member of Parliament for Islington North, was the most well-known of those who won the General Election in May of last year.
At the Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park last Friday, Corbyn was warmly welcomed by 30,000 revelers in south London.
He emphasized the value of live music, denounced Israel’s war crimes, and (in a not-so-subtle jab at his successor as Labour leader, Keir Starmer) attacked those sowing discord by referring to “an island of strangers.”
Rumors that Corbyn might be the leader of a new political party or preparing to start one have been getting stronger. However, similar conjectures have been heard before.
In any case, the Greens, LibDems, and respectable independents are benefitting from Labour’s loss of support among progressive urban voters.
It’s a question of whose vote splits the most between the Conservatives and Labour.
Conservatives are losing ground to Reform across the nation. Although Nigel Farage’s party hasn’t been well-organized in our borough up to this point, it has still made progress across the nation without a well-known ground organization.
As seen by its ability to hold onto the mayoralty in the West of England despite receiving only 25% of the vote on a 30% turnout, this raises the prospect of Labour regaining control of the Town Hall.
The Conservatives were the opposition in Croydon in 2022, but their government in Westminster was becoming more and more unpopular as Boris Johnson’s reputation quickly deteriorated (he resigned less than two months later).
The roles will be inverted next year, with a more despised man in Downing Street and Labour in opposition locally.
Jason Perry, the Conservative candidate for mayor of Croydon in 2022, pledged to “fix the finances.”
Despite cutting services and raising council tax, he hasn’t. Val Shawcross, the Labour candidate who lost by a slim margin that year, had a solid record as a former deputy mayor of London and was widely regarded as having led a successful government in Croydon in the early 2000s.
Rowenna Davis, the Waddon ward councillor who demonstrated effectiveness in the council chamber as chair of scrutiny, is another credible candidate that Labour has chosen. Similar to Shawcross, Davis gains by not having been a member of the previous Croydon Labour government.
One drawback for Davis, though, will be the decline in the Labour Party’s financial support and membership. Since Starmer took over as leader, Labour’s national membership has decreased by 200,000, from 532,000 in the 2019 annual report to 329,000 at the National Executive Committee meeting in January.
The NEC has since been notified that they will no longer receive the most recent membership statistics “because of leaks” (or the humiliation).
Since the central party distributed funds to local parties according to membership numbers, this also translates into reduced funding locally. Between 2017 and 2022, membership in the former Croydon Central constituency—now primarily Croydon East—halved.
That has probably decreased even more since then given the overall state of the country, which means there will be fewer people knocking on doors and delivering leaflets and less money to cover campaign expenses.
In the last year, the private and corporate contributors that supported the Labour Party during their time in opposition have dwindled.
According to reports, the party is now unable to balance its budget this year, which is concerning in light of the significant municipal and national elections that are scheduled for 2026.
The contest in Croydon has never felt more open as the two major parties fight for votes and money. However, the amount of Croydon Labour members who are prepared to dress in black tie and shell out £55 each to join Wes Streeting for dinner makes it impossible for this to be a consistent source of revenue.
In politics, the saying goes, “A week is a long time.” There will be a lot more twists and turns until the polling places open on May 7, 2026, which is 49 weeks away. Inside Croydon is the best spot to follow the chaos.
How will the end of suspensions affect Croydon’s political future?
Labour’s claims of accountability and transformation in Croydon are undermined by allowing Newman and Hall to rejoin the party. Critics contend that this erodes public trust by indicating that the party has not learnt from its mistakes and still accepts those connected to poor management.
Labour’s attempts to offer a “fresh break” with new leadership, including their 2026 mayoral candidate Rowenna Davis, have been hampered by the Conservative mayor and local Conservatives, who have used the reinstatements to paint Croydon Labour as unchanging and unreliable.
Labour members and activists in Croydon are frustrated and disillusioned with the timing and management of the suspensions’ termination, which may have weakened campaign fervor and grassroots support.