Liberal Democrats march for West Sussex’s right to vote in May

On Saturday lunchtime Liberal Democrats from across West Sussex marched through Chichester city centre to County Hall protesting against West Sussex County Council Conservative Leadership requesting the postponement of county elections, scheduled for May. 

Lib Dem MPs led the well-attended march; Jess Brown-Fuller of Chichester, John Milne of Horsham, and Alison Bennett of Mid Sussex. Residents from across West Sussex delivered a ballot box to County Hall, representing residents' right to elections in May.  The Conservative leadership at West Sussex County Council wrote to The Government on 10th January requesting the postponement of county elections.

During a West Sussex County Council debate on the issue, Conservative councillors had argued that low turnouts in previous elections, in addition to the cost of elections, were additional reasons to postpone the May elections.

Jess Brown-Fuller, MP for Chichester, said:

‘Their four-year term is up. They don’t have a plan, there hasn’t been a consultation and suspending democracy under the guise of local government reorganisation is an insult to the voters. This week I will present a petition in Parliament to call for elections in West Sussex to go ahead.”

John Milne, MP for Horsham, said:

“As the Deputy Prime Minister has made clear, the election postponement is supposed to be for authorities who ‘just need a few more months to put a system in place’. But the Conservatives at WSCC aren’t ready at all, so they’re proposing a far more drastic delay. They want to hold back elections until 2027, suspending the democratic process for 2 years or even longer.”

A local busking musician joined in the chants of “What do we want? Elections! When do we want them? May!”