YOUR VOTE MATTERS! Don’t forget to cast your vote for London Mayor and London Assembly on 2 May
By Munira Wilson, Member of Parliament for Twickenham
(including The Hamptons, Teddington, St Margarets, Strawberry Hill and Whitton)
As the deadline for calling a General Election draws ever closer, many of us have been on tenterhooks waiting for the signal that the Prime Minister will finally give us the opportunity to cast our vote and have our say. Alas, we are still waiting…
Whilst we wait for the General Election to be called, however, there are crucially important elections taking place on 2 May for the Greater London Assembly and the Mayor of London. It’s really important to vote in these elections as well, to make sure you have a say in who is representing Teddington’s interests at London level.
In Teddington, there will be three different ballots to cast on 2 May: one for the Mayor of London and two for the London Assembly.
The pink ballot paper is to cast your vote for the Mayor of London. The Mayoral elections will be a bit different this year, as the Conservative Government scrapped the preference voting system, returning instead to the method we use for electing Members of Parliament. This means that, rather than listing several choices in order of preference, each voter will only get to state one preference for the Mayoral election. The winner will only need one vote to pull ahead of their rivals.
The remaining two ballot papers are for London Assembly. The yellow ballot paper is to vote for the London Assembly Member for our constituency. For the purposes of this election, this comprises the South West London constituency of Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow.
This contest is particularly poignant for me, as I was the Liberal Democrat candidate back in 2012 and have fond memories of knocking on doors all over South West London, including Teddington, where I received a warm welcome from residents.
This time, it’s my Liberal Democrat colleague Gareth Roberts who is running. Gareth has an incredibly impressive track record of achievements as Leader of Richmond Council that stand him in good stead. We’ve worked together on issues that matter to local residents including increasing community policing, stopping sewage dumping and getting more support to help the most vulnerable. In the last elections, Gareth narrowly lost to the Conservative candidate. With your support, we can get him over the line this time.
The final contest is an orange ballot paper for the London Assembly List Member. This is a vote for a political party rather than a candidate, and the number of votes translates directly into the number of seats. The Liberal Democrats have been particularly fortunate to have talented and dedicated people like Caroline Pidgeon and Hina Bokhari holding the Mayor of London to account on a variety of issues.
The elections on 2 May are so important, because the more Liberal Democrats we can get elected to the London Assembly, the better we can hold the Mayor to account, and make sure our area of London gets a fair deal.
Finally, when you go to vote, don’t forget that the Government has made another important change to the voting system for all elections: you now need to show photo ID to vote at a polling station. You can find out exactly what ID you can use on the Electoral Commission website: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id.
Whilst these elections may not be the General Election many of us were hoping for, they are still crucially important for making sure that South West London’s voice is heard in City Hall. See you at the polling station!
