UK Local Politics and the Low Hanging Fruit

What if I told you that there is one tier of UK government that is so poorly supported that most (sometimes all) “elected” representatives are not elected at all.

To hold an election you obviously need at least two candidates. If you only have one candidate then holding an election is just a waste of time and money. The single candidate gets the job by default. No election is held.

That may sound bad. But, in fact the situation with the bottom tier of local government is far, far worse.

Many (not a few, or even some) of these Parish/Town councils have empty seats where nobody has put themselves forward as a candidate.

Going to the extreme, there are a significant number of these councils that are completely devoid of candidates. They literally have no-one who wants to do the job.

Here is a BBC report on this from April 2019

So why is this?

The UK is (mostly) controlled by three tiers of elected representatives.

• Member of Parliament. The top level. All seats are always contested in general elections and by-elections.

• County or District Councillor. Almost always  (with rare exceptions) all seats are contested. I have not come across any seats that are left vacant due to a lack of candidates. Though I have come across the occasional uncontested seat (i.e.one candidate)

• Parish (and Town) Councillors  This is where the problem lies. A large majority of Councillors do not have to face an election simply because nobody else wants to do the job. Even worse there are literally thousands of  Parish Council seats across the country where nobody wants to do the job at all.

Along with the BBC piece above I have done a little data scraping (currently incomplete - more to come) regarding the May 2019 local elections for my own county (Dorset - more counties to follow) I found the following:

In May 2019 the local elections in Dorset revealed the following:

Parishes with contested seats: 53

Parishes with no contests:166

Parish Councils with no candidates at all: 24

By the way, there is nothing unusual about Dorset.

I've yet to process one of the documents before I can work out how many of the councils with contested and uncontested seats actually also have vacancies but the BBC piece above indicates it is over 80% of the councils. I know my local Parish council has four vacancies. I do not suppose it is at-all unusual.

Surprised? Shocked even?

But (I hear you say) Parish councils have no power. 

Maybe you think Parish councils are just golf club cliques who argue about the hanging baskets down the shopping arcade. Or act like commissars when deciding who gets an allotment.

Well, first off, Parish/Town Councils do have power - and responsibility. 

While the powers of a Parish council are limited, they are important. Most do not exercise anywhere near their full capability, and that is because they collectively do not have the drive, the manpower or the expertise to do so. 

Most Councillors (despite the caricatures) are earnest community orientated individuals who do the job for nothing  and receive little or no praise for doing it. They do the job quietly and anonymously without seeking praise or reward.

The majority of Parish Councillors are independents. While a party aligned Councillor would gain the support and publicity from his/her party, independents have no such support. 

So they simply do a lonely job and do not brag about it. 

Even though they are a fabulous asset to the community, nobody knows they are there.

So, how could a small party (say - the SDP) make a big inroad into this dying layer of our democracy? How could they use Parish/Town Councils as a lever to improve peoples lives and so gain popularity and support?

The first (but most certainly NOT the last) requirement is to gain seats on Parish Councils. 

This is easy! It can be done almost immediately.

How?

Remember all those empty seats from the May 2019 local elections? Most of them are still empty. In fact (although this is a bit anecdotal) I expect there are even more empty seats now than in May as some people will have pulled out and resigned. 

I’d bet there are well over 1500 easy-to-fill empty seats across the country today. Anyone living within 3 miles of one can apply to be a Parish Councillor and fill the seat.

(In fact this is almost certainly a massive underestimate. There are 9000 parish/town councils in England alone. If 80% have vacancies then that is a minimum (one seat per parish) of 7200 vacancies. Bearing in mind many have multiple vacancies and some no Councillors at all I would suggest my 1500 easy-to-fill seat is probably an order of magnitude too small)

How do you get elected to one of those seats? 

You don’t. You submit your CV, get nominated and co-opted. 

Unless someone else actually applies at the same time no election is held. 

Parish councils are desperate to fill vacant seats. If you have enough enthusiasm to have a go then you are in.

So that is why in my last post I said that the SDP (or any other party with enough committed members) could gain a significant number of seats and local power within 2 months. 

Even with its hugely increased membership I would fully expect that there will be far more vacant seats than there would be SDP members willing to stand as Councillors.

And not a vote has to be cast.

But that is most definitely NOT it. 

Unless those new Councillors get support (and lots of it) nothing would improve. 

Any party that tried this without ensuring there was a strong support infrastructure for these new Councillors would end up with a lot of lonely, isolated and disillusioned people ruing the day the signed up for local government.

So how a political party avoid such a calamity and revive this failing tier of local government?

That's the next post.

Heres the full set of posts on this topic:

The Social Democratic Party - Where Now?

The SDP and the Brexit Party

Local Politics and the Low Hanging Fruit (this post)

Arming the Parish Councillors

Parish Councillors: Party Aligned? or Independent?

Parish Councils are Dying: So What?

The SDP and the Brexit Party.

During the Peterborough by-election the Brexit Party almost won. In fact many people (myself included) believe it only lost due to election fraud.

Meanwhile the SDP with arguably the best parliamentary candidate (and far more capable than any of the other candidates) lost its deposit.

I believe that this suggests that while the Brexit Party is in the ascendant then the SDP stands little hope in Parliamentary elections.

While losing is certainly no shame, I do believe that the drain on resources and more importantly the disappointment and associated hit to morale resulting from a poor result means the SDP should very carefully consider whether standing in Parliamentary by-elections at this stage in the SDP's revival is worthwhile.

So maybe the SDP should focus away from Parliamentary by-elections. Maybe at this point in time it should even lend a hand to the Brexit Party.

The Brexit Party is a one-trick pony and despite lots of fine words, at the moment it does not seem able or even inclined to break out of that straight jacket.

I may have to eat my words here about the "one-trick pony". I just discovered (a week after writing this) that the Brexit Party IS contesting local elections. If that is a policy move rather than just a couple of keen supporters doing a bit of DIY local politics then it will be a game changer. If it is the case then either the Brexit Party or the SDP could push forward into Parish/Town Councils.

Although the Brexit party has a great deal of momentum (all of which is associated with Brexit) it lacks the political depth of the SDP.

So when push comes to shove, in a friendly alliance, eventually (in the long term), it would be more likely that the SDP would absorb the Brexit Party membership than the other way round.

Assisting the parliamentary Brexit Party would help the SDP achieve one of its primary political ends (aka Brexit).

Properly handled it will also  gain more visibility for the SDP.

Though to be fair, being an associate rather than  the main item is not going to ignite the identity afterburner.

But maybe there is a way to ignite the SDP's identity. Possibly this can even be done quite quickly.

But it has to be decoupled from the Brexit debate.

Local politics at bottom tier of UK democracy is wide open. That is the Parish/Town Council level.

Forget about the fact we've only just had a set of local elections in May. It is irrelevant.

Gaining a significant representation across the country on this bottom tier of UK democracy could be achieved in a short time frame. In fact a very short time frame.

By short I mean SHORT.

OK. Now, sit down or at least stand well clear of breakable objects.

I believe that with the correct strategy a small party with popular policies could gain a significant amount of local power across the country almost without trying. The required budget would be minimal.

Theoretically it could do this within….

(Wait for it...)

Two months. Literally from today. That is with no new elections/law changes/special events or miracles.

Preposterous?

Nope.

I know. I’ve done the research.

Seriously.

And no! I’ve not been eating “funny” mushrooms. I’ll tell you how in the next post. Not only will I tell you. I’ll convince you! And easily too!

Really.

To be fair, it may well not be desirable to try and achieve such progress in such a blindingly short timescale. Planning and organisation is key and going off half-cocked could be disastrous.

But what I hope to show is that the SDP (or any other small party with popular policies) could change the landscape of British Politics in a relatively short time scale. No miracles involved.

The major difference from this to the more typical visualisations of changing the political landscape is that this visualisation starts at the bottom tier of UK democracy not the top.

I am not mad. (I promise)

Oh, OK.... Maybe just a bit...

The full set of posts on this topic:

The Social Democratic Party - Where Now?
The SDP and the Brexit Party (this post)
Local Politics and the Low Hanging Fruit
Arming the Parish Councillors
Parish Councillors: Party Aligned? or Independent?
Parish Councils are Dying: So What?