The elections for Councillors in London are on May the 5th and I hope you will vote. There is typically a low turnout in local elections so those elected can be unrepresentative of the views of the electorate.
Another problem is that people often vote on national party lines when it is local councillors who make the decisions that affect you directly in your local borough. They also have a big influence on the level of Council Tax that you pay and there is a big variation between different boroughs in London depending on how well the local council manages their finances and the decisions taken by Councillors. It is therefore important that you select the best people to be Councillors.
Another issue to consider is whether Councillors will represent your views and actually respond when you raise an issue with them. A good example of what can go wrong is when Councillors stand for election because they want to save the world from global warming or wish to attack the national Government over its handling of the economy and the price of energy. Councillors have no influence over those matters.
The worst Councillors are those who ignore the views of the public and think they know best. One of the contentious issues in many London boroughs is that over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). In Lewisham for example, it is very clear from survey responses and consultations that most people oppose the LTNs. But Labour Councillors have refused to listen.
As Labour Councillors in Lewisham have ignored the pleas of their electorate on LTNs and any legal challenge is exceedingly difficult, the only way to get some changes is to vote them out!
Who to vote for instead? In Lewisham only the Conservative Party have published a manifesto that clearly commits to scrap the LTNs. The Liberal Democrats have a more nuanced opposition to them but they do seem to have strong support in Lee Green based on the last council election results in 2018. But the Conservatives were stronger in other boroughs such as Grove Park.
Labour might win the Council seats simply because the opposition votes are split between the other parties and the few independent candidates. So I would suggest some tactical voting is required, i.e. vote for the candidates that are most likely to gain election and who have policies that you generally agree with.
If possible try and talk to the candidates in your ward and for those of Lewisham Mayor.
See here for the candidates in each ward and for Mayor in Lewisham: https://lewisham.gov.uk/mayorandcouncil/elections/lewisham-elections-5-may-2022-list-of-candidates
You can see the statements for the Mayoral candidates here: https://lewisham.gov.uk/mayorandcouncil/elections/lewisham-elections-5-may-2022---statements-from-mayoral-candidates which give a short summary of their policies.
But do make sure you vote!
Roger Lawson