By Aliss Higham and Catrin Picton
November 15 2019, 17.05
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Labour’s Sarah Jones won the seat in 2017 with a 9.9% majority, with 29,873 votes giving her a 52.3% share of the vote.
She gained the seat from Conservative candidate Gavin Barwell.
Croydon Central voted 50.31% to leave in the 2016 EU referendum.
Mario Creatura (Conservative)
Mario Creatura was born and raised in Croydon.
He was a special advisor to Theresa May, running her Twitter after the 2017 general election, and is currently head of digital communications at Virgin Money UK. He is a councillor for Coulsdon Town.
His website says: “Recently our borough has lost its way – and I hold our current MP and Croydon Council responsible.”
Mario supported remain in the 2016 referendum but now calls himself a ‘champion for Brexit’.
Twitter: @MarioCreatura
Sarah Jones (Labour)
Sarah Jones, another candidate born and raised in Croydon, was elected as MP for Croydon Central in the 2017 general election and was appointed Shadow Housing Minister under Jeremy Corbyn. She gained the largest majority in any election in the constituency since 1992. In her time as MP she has campaigned for Croydon to be ‘rezoned’ to make commuting cheaper, and to introduce new tram safety laws following the 2016 Croydon Tram Crash.
She was previously Head of Campaigns at homeless charity Shelter.
Sarah supported remain in the 2016 referendum and has campaigned for a people’s vote.
Twitter: @LabourSJ
Peter Sonnex (Brexit Party)
Peter Sonnex is a former army veteran who served in the Falklands and Iraq as a bomb disposal expert, then chief of staff at the Royal School of Military Engineering, and he currently works as a bus driver. He has said he is in favour of a ‘real Brexit’.
Twitter: @SonnexPeter
Esther Sutton (Green Party)
Esther Sutton was also born and raised in Croydon, and is the landlady of the Oval Tavern. She said she is heavily involved in the area’s local arts scene and is an advocate for the night time economy, promoting creative talent in the borough. She is also the chair of Croydon Pubwatch and a founder member of Croydon Pride.
She previously contested the seat in 2015.
Twitter: @CroydonEsther
Simon Sprague (Liberal Democrat)
Simon Sprague trained as a research scientist and currently works in pharma manufacturing.
He is the first ever Diversity and Community Outreach Officer for the Liberal Democrats, and has campaigned to save Croydon’s bus links from major cuts by TFL.
His website says: “For too long, the people of Croydon have been stuck with the same two parties offering the same old solutions both locally and nationally. It is abundantly clear to me that both parties are offering more Brexit chaos, more inaction on the climate emergency and more misguided policies.”
Twitter: @simon_sprague
