THIS is usually a safe-ish Conservative ward. There are years in which you think another party might have a chance. Labour were nothing that far away in 2024.

The Harlow Alliance Party have often polled over 300 votes.

But on this occasion, Labour are, as you may have noticed,aren’t popular and HAP aren’t standing this year.

The Conservative candidate is Emma Ghaffari. Emma may be one of the quietest councillors there is but that doesn’t mean she isn’t doing her job.

And she does seem most comfortable in committees such as Scrutiny.

We have rung her twice to see how campaigning is going and the phone has gone straight to voicemail.

But run again, Emma and the other ten Tory candidates may be relying on the Dan Swords Factor. We may be concerned that people may get confused if they do not see his name on the ballot paper.

The Reform candidate is eighteen-year-old Jamie Winslow. He seems very keen and is right behind all Reform policies.

For example: Reform UK says it would require all schools to fly Union Flag.

We did ask for an interview with him but that has not been provided.

Julie Bull is standing for The Greens. Julie definitely has something about her. Her questions at council are thought-provoking and she would be an interesting candidate at next General Election (making several assumptions there).

This could be a near thing but the Conservatives should do enough to hold on.

YH Prediction: Cons Gain

Candidates