Thoughts, publications, activities and interests of John Barber
Southend May 7 2026 Local Elections
I recently was notified about who is standing – see below.
I asked AI and AI told me:
Southend City Council has 51 councillors representing 17 wards. The councillors are divided among various parties, with the current projected (after the election) breakdown being:
– Reform UK: 19 seats
– Labour: 13 seats
– Conservative: 8 seats
– Liberal Democrats: 3 seats
– Green: 3 seats
– Others/Independent: 5 seats
The current breakdown of Southend City Council is:
– Labour: 13 seats
– Conservative: 9 seats
– Independent: 5 seats
– Liberal Democrats: 3 seats
– Reform UK: 3 seats
– Green: 2 seats
BUT NEVER ASSUME OR LOOK TO ME AS A RELIABLE PUNDIT.
ALSO, I AM A POLITICAL NERD AND NEUTRAL WHO VOTES FOR A PERSON, NOT A PARTY.
I recently moved from the St. Lukes ward where I had a good deal of interactions with local councillors and prospective candidates due to my community interests. I am now in the Prittlewell ward and, other than being a member of the fan club of Meg, one of our three (all Tory) councillors, I know next to nothing about ward issues and what the candidates who are running would do for the ward and city if elected. It means that I go to the polls on May 5th (and go I will) based on minimal knowledge to base my decision on who to vote for.
While having taken my eye of what is going on in politics locally of late, my interest has suddenly been reawakened having gone down the list of candidates and seeing a number of old friends and a few adversaries standing, so I thought to weigh in with my two penneth.
Shame on me! Balancing the budget, town centre development, what happens around the Kursaal, building homes on Green belt, 5G towers are issues on the top of my head that ought to be considered and I would love to hear from the candidates – their take!
Regarding old friends, Keith Evans and Brian Ayling (pukka Independent), Roger Weaver and Verina Weaver (Reform), Lara Hurley (Heritage) and James Miller and Melissa Aylott (Confelicity) are people I would consider voting for but they ain’t in my ward!
Not only do I vote for the best candidate (rather than party) unlike many who do vote (and I wonder if more apathy is to be expected by a disillusioned public) I do not vote on how well the main parties are doing. Just as well because I DON’T LIKE/TRUST any of them.
My Labour disillusionment, led by a particularly bad baddie, grows daily. LibDems is led by a fool, whose memorable line is to go after Trump for suing the BBC. Conservative remain unimpressive and clueless. Reform is led by a leader who throws Tommy Robinson under a bus and shows contempt for “my lot”. Greens are led by someone who can’t define a woman and sees a Marxist/Islamist alliance as the way to power. I like, Reform aside, the newest kids on the block still trying to gain a foothold in local politics, the Confelicity folk, despite naively believing making as many people happy is the way to go. Of all the parties of the so-called right, Heritage is my favourite, despite having nigh zero chances of winning. And there are a number of people who are truly Independent who methinks would serve their ward well if elected.
So that’s it – rant over. I still encourage folk to vote though and well done all those who are standing, often, I believe, for the right reasons, and at personal cost if slim winning chances.
The following then is the full list of candidates in each ward for the Southend-on-Sea City Council elections on 7 May 2026.
JRB Publications 