Croydon is hitting the headlines because of the Mayoral election next month and Croydon residents can expect to see national figures from the main parties visiting Croydon to support their mayoral candidates.

Yesterday was the turn of the Labour Party who had a visit from party leader Keir Starmer to support Val Shawcross, the Labour candidate for Croydon’s first directly elected mayor.

After visiting Croydon police station and the Croydon Gudwara in St James’s Road, Sir Keir and Ms Shawcross went for a coffee in a popular South Croydon delicatessen, La Spezia.    Here he and Val Shawcross and Sarah Jones MP spoke with local residents and journalists about issues about policing issues relating to drug use and knife crime in the area.

Sir Keir agrees that the support of the council is vital in fighting crime. He said ‘we are going to fight for every vote, we are not complacent, we need to earn every vote’.  He stressed his support for Val Shawcross who he considers to be a great candidate. 

Val Shawcross expressed her concern about the current approach of the Croydon administration to dealing with the financial crisis.  She stated that while council officers have been making the cuts, more effort needs to be made to raise much-needed funds from other sources.  She said ‘some of the cuts have been counter productive.  Croydon hasn’t been bidding for major external grants, its missed out on opportunities’.  She added later to The CRO that Croydon needs to have a council-wide policy to make the most of funding opportunities available through the Government’s levelling up strategy.

Sir Keir also spoke on national issues and was particularly scathing on the government’s new proposals to send refugees to Rwanda.  He said ‘I think it’s a desperate announcement, one whose purpose is distraction from the law breaking of the prime minister’.  He added ‘it’s unworkable, it’s extortionate, it’s going to cost billions of pounds, yes, it’s unethical.’

After the meeting Sir Keir stopped to chat with the owner of La Spezia, who came to Croydon from La Spezia on the Ligurian coast of Italy. Even a brief glance at La Spezia’s Trip Advisor profile gives some idea of how well regarded this cafe is.

Local resident Charlotte Davies said on her twitter account later ‘La Spezia is the hub of the community in South Croydon’ she described the owner Georgio as a man who ‘lives by his principles and supports many vulnerable people day by day, small act by small act.

If your election campaign is having a visit from a VIP, please let the CRO know on – check our contacts page for details.