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The rise of the Independents?
11/04/2023
Half of Cherwell’s wards have candidates without any political affiliation
Voters will be heading to the polls on May 4 and this year there’s a marked increase in the number of independent candidates standing for election to Cherwell District Council.
At the Local Elections in 2022 just one independent candidate without any political affiliation stood – long standing Bicester West Councillor John Broad, who was re-elected.
This year half of the 16 wards where voting will take place have an independent candidate standing. In Banbury four of the five wards have independents nominated, with only the Hardwick Ward having just party-political representation.
Cassi Perry is standing as an independent candidate in the Grimsbury and Hightown Ward. The former Labour councillor cut her ties with Kier Starmer’s party and has lost faith in party politics.
Ms Perry said: “We get into politics because of particular policies we care about or things we want to see happen. The Labour Party from a policy position are now many miles away from the issues I care about.
“The other part of it is just the general toxicity within all party politics at the moment, that just feels more of a barrier than an assistance. Party politics is always a bit of a balancing act: being part of a political group gives you colleagues, a voice and party machinery behind you. The negative side is the bureaucracy and silencing and sometimes factionalism.
“It just feels at the moment that the balance is so far tipped to the negative It gets in the way of what I want to be doing for my constituents.“
The Banbury Grimsbury and Hightown Ward is currently held by Perran Moon for Labour, but Mr Moon is not re-standing this year. Instead, the Labour Leader at Cherwell, Sean Woodcock, has been nominated to stand for the ward, which puts Ms Perry in direct competition for the seat with her former party boss – a situation she said she looked at with “bemusement”.
Currently the Conservatives have a two seat majority at Cherwell, but the largest opposition group is a coalition of councillors from the Liberals, Greens and Independents. Ms Perry feels this is a sign that people have become tired of party politics.
She said: “None of the political parties look good in the media at the moment. It’s hard to find distance between them on policy. If every party is offering a watered down version of the government there’s nothing that inspires change and at the moment we need significant structural change.
“What’s happening to our bills, what’s happening in terms of the exploitation of all of our public services – it’s all degrading in front of our eyes. You can’t get a GP appointment; our gas and electric companies are making record profits and nobody’s tackling that.
“On a local level it’s more about people just wanting to disconnect from all of that nonsense. People just want someone who cares about their streets, their community and their neighbourhood. They don’t want people who are caught up in factional battles. They don’t want people who are caught up in government scandals.
“The dynamic on Cherwell has shifted. The Labour Party is no longer the opposition party, iI’s now a a cooperative group of people from different parties, with lots of independents in the mix.”
The full list of candidates standing for the Grimsbury and Hightown Ward are:
- Zeeshan Ahmed – Conservative
- Karl Kwiatkowski – Green
- Sophie Parker-Manuel – Liberal Democrats
- Cassi Perry – Independent
- Sean Woodcock – Labour
A full list of those standing in the Cherwell District on May 4 is available here.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam