On September 24th Labour quietly announced that one of your councillors, Councillor Niroshan Sirisena, has resigned.
As the news was only shared in a single tweet, I thought it worth sharing with you here:
‘Due to a serious incident involving Councillor Sirisena the Labour leadership have accepted his resignation, effective immediately, as a Labour representative of Fairfield Ward. He has tendered his resignation formally to the Chief Executive of Croydon Council.
So as not to prejudice any possible legal proceedings in relation to this matter we will be making no further comment at this time.’
Cllr Sirisena was only elected to serve Town Centre residents in May 2018. No further information as to the reason for his resignation has been published.
You may already be aware, but he was the Labour member who in 2017 climbed over the Woodside war memorial, with Sarah Jones (now the MP) present.
When you vote someone into public office, you should rightly expect nothing less than the highest standards from those chosen to be your elected representatives. If you live in the Town Centre ward, it is my firm view that you are entitled to know why your councillor has chosen to leave his post. The Labour Party choosing to close ranks is not open, it’s not transparent and it’s certainly not good for local democracy.
The resignation will lead to a by-election in Fairfield ward on 7th November so you can vote for a new councillor to fill the vacancy.
I am delighted that Jayde Edwards has been selected by local Conservatives as our candidate. Jayde will be an excellent candidate for Fairfield and you will be hearing more about her and the by-election in due course.
I will keep you informed but, in the meantime, I would be very interested to hear what you think about this situation. Do send me an email using [email protected].
If I can help with any other matters of concern please do not hesitate to get in touch.
