Why stand for Labour?

People who share our values may have many reasons for standing for election as a Labour candidate:

• Because they feel they can contribute to national policy as a Parliamentary Candidate and MP.
• Because they feel they can contribute to London-wide policy as a London Assembly Member.
• Because they feel they want to contribute to the local community as a local Candidate and local Councillor.
• Because they realise standing first as a Council candidate or getting elected as a Councillor may build their experience to later stand as a parliamentary candidate and seek to be elected as an MP.
• Because they want to stand this time to build their campaigning experience for a later time when they will seek actual election in future either locally or nationally.
• Because they want to fly the flag for Labour locally in their area and ensure they and other Labour voters can vote for a Labour candidate.

We therefore have opportunities to stand for however you wish to contribute. Whether you are elected or not you will learn a lot, meet people and election campaigns can be a lot of fun too. Even if you are not elected:

• If you are a young person standing may contribute to your future CV and build your networks if you are later seeking community or policy related employment.
• If you are an older person it may be you feel its the right time for you to put something back into your local community or be seen to stand up on an important local issue.

Forthcoming Opportunities

Following the success of Labour at the General Election, we are now looking ahead to important local elections in Sutton in May 2026.

In the London Borough of Sutton we have all-out elections for the Council where we are looking as always to field a full slate of 55 Labour candidates in all 20 electoral wards across the Borough. Sutton & Cheam Labour will be selecting 27 candidates across 10 electoral wards and our neighbouring local Labour Party Carshalton & Wallington Labour will be selecting 28 candidates across 10 electoral wards.

We need many people who would interested in standing and campaigning hard to be elected as Labour Councillors, but in a democracy we would of course not expect to win everywhere and thus we also need candidates who are community spirited and may just want to ensure their local area has a Labour candidate for Labour voters to vote for. In other words there are opportunities to stand for Labour that have varied levels of commitment that should provide opportunities for anyone interested., whether you want to campaign a day or two every week through to being a name on a ballot paper to give other Labour voters a chance to vote Labour.

Around 10% of our current local membership has stood as a Labour candidate at local level and at least four at Parliamentary level and one for the London Assembly so this is an opportunity to play your own part supporting local democracy for local citizens in general and for your fellow Labour voters.

Below is more explanation of the selection process for the next local elections covering different levels of candidate activity:

Labour Councillors

Labour councillors play a crucial role in representing local residents, undertaking casework, developing policy and holding the council to account on local service provision.

Being a councillor is a fantastic opportunity to get involved, serve the community and build connections with all the new Labour MPs and work with the new Labour Government to deliver on its Missions nationally and for local residents.

Want to know more or not sure what would be involved in being a Labour councillor then read: Standing as a Councillor – The Labour Party  which sets out the role of a Councillor and the skills likely to be needed. The Local Government Association has also produced a page of resources here for those interested in learning more about becoming a Councillor.

Labour Candidates not seeking to be elected this time

As no party ever expects to win every seat up for election some candidates will be standing on the assumption they won’t win in their current election. There may be a number of reasons to do this:

• You may want to use this campaign to build your experience and we can use the election campaign to build your campaigning skills.
• You may want to just fly the flag for Labour and ensure there is a Labour candidate in your area Labour voters can vote for.

Eligibility and Application Process

To stand as a Labour candidate the following process applies:

• You need to become a member of the Labour Party and be one for a year before we select candidates.
• You need to not be disqualified by the legal rules for the type of candidature you are seeking such as for a Councillor and for an MP.
• You will need to complete a short application form and in it make certain basic commitments to the Party in order for us to select you.
• You will face an application process that may involve interview by a small panel and a selection process involving local members and the local Constituency Labour Party (CLP) Executive. More information will be provided on all of this for the various types of candidate by the commitment they can make when the current process starts and you have expressed an interest.
• Labour in Sutton takes equalities seriously and will actively ensure we both encourage and avoid discrimination on the basis of the Equality and Human Right’s Commission (EHRC) protected characteristics: of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We also locally consider things more widely and have awareness of discrimination on the basis of Neurodiversity and Mental Health and the strong inequalities that occur with occupational class.

To apply to be considered to be a Labour candidate for whatever type of election experience described above please contact us with an expression of interest on our email here: suttoncheamclp@gmail.com and we will send you more details.

Future Elections

After the local elections in 2026 we would expect the following opportunities to stand for Labour to come up:

• 2028 – Greater London Authority London Assembly Elections. Its likely we will select candidates between late 2026 and early 2028
• 2028/29 – General Election. Its likely we will select candidates between late 2026 and early 2028.