Local democracy matters. And it needs you to show up.
Something has shifted in how people relate to politics. Many people believe the decisions which shape their lives are made somewhere out of reach, by people who aren’t really listening. I understand how they get there, truly. I just think they’re wrong. Especially when it comes to local democracy.
Local elections run on completely different numbers. While national general elections are won and lost by thousands of votes, local elections are won and lost by dozens, sometimes fewer. The councillor who determines what gets built at the end of your road, or whether the social care stays funded, might win or lose their seat simply by a handful of votes.
Local government is where the rubber meets the road, quite literally, as anyone who has driven along Longmead Road recently will attest. It’s your streets, your bins, your parks, your planning decisions, your local high street, and your community safety. It’s the
services you don’t even notice when they’re working seamlessly, but certainly notice when they don’t.
At its best, local government isn’t about the grandiose. It’s about practical problem solving. It’s about local leaders rolling up their sleeves and saying “Let’s make our town a better place to live than it was yesterday.”
On May 7th, for the first time ever, our community here in Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead and Leatherhead will elect councillors to a new East Surrey Unitary Council. One authority to replace the multi-layered structure we’ve previously had, where accountability had a habit of getting lost between tiers.
The people elected on Thursday will set budgets, shape planning, and make decisions that will affect our day-to-day lives for years to come. It matters, in a very practical sense, who they are and what they stand for. I’ve existed within spheres of local politics long enough to be clear-eyed about it. Institutions don’t sustain themselves; they are made by the people who engage with them.
Communities who engage with the “everyday” moments of democracy – the local election on a probably rainy Thursday that might not have the eyes of the national press on it – generally end up with better local government. That’s not sentiment; it’s on the whole what the evidence shows.
We’ve had a difficult few weeks in parts of this constituency. I won’t dwell on it, except to say this: what I saw underneath the noise was a community that knows who they are. People who chose solidarity over suspicion, unity over division.
The actions from the majority of our community made me feel hopeful. That quality, of a place that looks after itself and holds fast to what is true and fair, is exactly what local democracy is designed to channel. It needs representatives who can match this purpose.
Helen Maguire is a British Liberal Democrat politician and Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Primary Care and Cancer who has been Member of Parliament for Epsom and Ewell since 2024.
