Residents in Fairfield headed to the polls last week (Thursday, November 8) and voted in Croydon’s newest councillor.

Labour held the seat, with residents electing Caragh Skipper to represent the ward alongside Councillor Chris Clark and Councillor Mary Croos.

The by-election was called after Niroshan Sirisena resigned on September 24.

The reason for his resignation has not been made public by the Croydon Labour Party but council leader Tony Newman confirmed that the former councillor is ‘under investigation’ by the police for a ‘serious incident’.

Overall the by-election saw a 22.77 per cent turn out, that is 2,088 of the 9,167 people eligible to vote.

Of the ballot papers returned, six were rejected for being unmarked or ‘wholly void for uncertainty’.

Labour retained the seat with 40 per cent of the vote, while the Conservatives got 25 per cent and Lib Dems got 19 per cent.

This is how many votes each candidate received: 

Caragh Skipper, Labour – 849

Jayde Edwards, Conservative – 536

Andrew Rendle, Liberal Democrats – 397

Esther Sutton, Green – 237

Heather Twidle, Women’s Equality Party – 40

Mark Samuel, Independent – 23

Who is Caragh Skipper? 

Speaking before the by-election the new councillor said she wanted to represent Fairfield “because I know the issues people in Fairfield are facing”.

Cllr Skipper said she understands the struggles of high rents, bad landlords and commuting costs.

Following her election she tweeted: “I can’t put into words what an honour this is. But, this is just the warm up.

“Tomorrow the work starts to deliver on election promises but most importantly, to make sure that [Sarah Jones] remains our MP and is serving as Housing Minister by Christmas.”

Congratulatory messages were posted on Twitter by her new council colleagues.