Mr Parker runs for local election!

The 2023 United Kingdom local elections took place on the 4th May 2023 in England and on the 18th May in Northern Ireland. Local council elections are very important in determining how local public services are run and whom they are run by. Some examples of these services are rubbish collection, fixing potholes, and care for the elderly and disabled.

The run up to these elections were incredibly interesting for a number of different reasons. A tumultuous year in UK politics was making it out to be a terrible result for the Tories. Market turbulence caused by Liz Truss’ ‘minibudget’ and the Partygate scandal have left the Conservatives disliked by the majority of the population. Strikes were another incredibly important issue in the run up to the election, with junior doctors, nurses and train operatives being the headline acts. This further damaged the government’s local credibility, leading to a loss of 1,063 councillors in 2023. The election was interesting for other reasons too. It was the first election to utilise the new voter identification laws which forced people to bring ID with them to the polling station. This had quite a significant impact on voter turnout as nearly 10,000 people did not return to vote after they were turned away for not having sufficient identification. Many people were concerned that this would decrease turnout, particularly in ethnic minority groups.

However, for us at Caterham, the most interesting part of this election was Head of Spanish Mr Parker standing for the seat of Chaldon in the council of Tandridge. Mr Parker, who has been working at Caterham School for nearly 15 years has been a Liberal Democrat member since the early 2000s and due to the lack of volunteers, decided to stand for election in 2023. I went to talk to him about his election experience and political history. Although, this interview was conducted before the elections took place.