LABOUR in Harlow appear to have a good knack of finding green candidates who are going to doc the hard yards in their ward.

If you judge social media alone, then Lanie Shears certainly done the hard yards.

You may have also seen Lanie speaking at the Jeremy Corbyn rally, so whatever you think of Mr Corbyn, you may have noticed that Lanie does appear to be very keen and passionate about local politics.

Hopefully, if Lanie is elected, the people of this ward may have someone a little more, how do we say. proactive, than outgoing councillor, Jacqui Cross.

Labour got a shock in this ward in 2014, when they lost to UKIP. Leader, Jon Clempner wasn’t let that happen again and made sure they got it back.

IN 2012, Labour won by 409 votes (52%). IN 2014, UKIP won by 60 votes. A by-election was held in Feb 2015, and Labour recovered the seat, winning by 233 votes. In less than nine months, UKIP’s vote had declined significantly.

That may well have illustrated that the Harlow voter had had his say and has now gone back to choosing between Labour and Conservative (we will put the Lib Dem presence to the side for a minute).

The campaigners are saying that it is local issues that are being discussed on the doorstep. Labour will, therefore hope to see Lanie Shears win with over 40% of votes cast.

This is also the type of seat that the Tories need to do much better at, if they are ever going to re-take Harlow Council. They may well get over 300 votes but they need to find those Halfonites, who don’t appear to cone out locally.

YH prediction: Lab hold

Mark Hall
Janet DOYLE UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Lesley RIDEOUT Liberal Democrats
Lanie SHEARS Labour Party
Jane STEER The Conservative Party Candidate