THURSDAY”S by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour’s deputy leader, Waida Forman. This reporter alway saw Mrs Forman as a formidable campaigner and in many ways, one of Harlow’s true left-wingers and not one of the transient militants with a mobile.

It is a pretty safe ward for Labour. In May, Mike Danvers retained the seat by 190,. True, veteran Mike had considerable personal following but you still can’t see the Conservatives getting near them.

One of the few encouraging aspects of this by-election is the fact that the two main candidates are so young. Labour’s Shannon Jezzard is just 23 and Jake Brackstone is 18. Harlow is leading the way in getting younger people involved in politics.

It is also encouraging to see so many people out and about campaigning for the parties. We believe every person does it because they care and believe in what they are saying. You may not agree but that is the beauty of democracy.

We also think that the Harlow Alliance Party are a valuable contribution to the political landscape. They may not be getting a lot of votes just now but there brand of politics is though provoking.

UKIP’s Mark Gough continues to be a keen observer of local politics. In many ways, we are just five months from Brexit and who knows what may happen after that. They are still on the pitch.

We are sure that, if she wins, Shannon Jezzard will bring a lot of enthusiasm and zeal into the role. There is a changing of the guard and we hope the younger ones are in it for the long haul.

The hard work for members is done on committees that are not that funky such as Scrutiny, Planning and Health as well as the conventional case work.

YH prediction: Lab Hold-169

Jake Brackstone Conservative
Mark Gough UK Independence Party (UKIP)
Shannon Jezzard Labour
Alan Leverett Harlow Alliance Party
Robert Thurston Liberal Democrats