Where there are two levels of local government, it’s quite common for someone to be a councillor for both, such as being both a district and a county councillor in the same area.
However, standing for two councils in different areas is another matter. It’s perfectly legal (as you can qualify in different areas under, for example, the live and work qualifications) but it raises questions about how committed you are to either place – or how you would do the two jobs, representing different areas on different councils, if elected.
So far three Green Party candidates who are doing just that have been spotted in London. Jane Lithgow is standing in Edgware ward, Barnet and also in Forest Gate North ward, Newham; Paul Homer is standing in Hale ward, Barnet and also in Victoria ward, Hackney; Noel Lynch is standing in East Finchley ward, Barnet and also in Bruce Grove ward, Haringey.
Update: another one spotted – Jayne Forbes in South Bermondsey ward, Southwark and in Stroud Green ward, Haringey.
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8 Comments
Did you mean to say qualify not quality?
Let’s add to that list one Paul Martin Ingram who is standing in Camberwell Green, Southwark, and Hackney Central, Hackney.
Kayleigh: yup, corrected.
There is a BNP candidate standing in Burnley (Queensgate) and Pendle (Clover Hill).
Tony Greaves
I don’t think people ‘ll mind if it gives them the choice where there wouldn’t have been a choice otherwise. As long as they’re only paper candidates why not?
Plenty of your candidates double up in different places – Paul Buchanan was until recently a county councillor for SCC while at the same time PPC for East Devon – perhaps you should reassess your own standards.
Jo – doubling up between levels of government (council / Westminster) is indeed common, but what Mark’s talking about is a candidate standing in two places at the same level of government.
I always thought that if you were elected in two places at the same level, you then had to choose which to represent and a by-election occurred in the other. But not sure about different councils though…
Not sure to what extent this is “the same level of government”, but the BNP’s seriel election loser in South East London, Tess Culhane, is standing both in Cray Valley East, Bromley and for Mayor of Lewisham.