The grandly-titled and Labour-dominated ”Councillors Commission” has published a grand-sounding report entitled “Representing The Future”, and today they have handed the whole shebang to Communities Secretary and Salford MP Hazel Blears. She said:
“Today’s independent report has come up with genuinely radical ideas to improve local democracy and representation.”
I really hope that this is politician-speak for “I wouldn’t touch most of those recommendations with a bargepole”, because the many of the recommendations (61 in total) are some of the worst Labour Party claptrap I have seen in a long time.
I should point out that there is some common sense amongst the nonsense. I’ll repeat recommendation 3 in full here for the benefit of the Salford Labour Party Councillor who vote to hold all of our meetings during the day:
In order to ensure that as many people as possible can participate in local representative democracy, the role of a councillor must be compatible with full-time employment and an executive councillor with full or part-time employment.
If you’re suffering from insomnia, you can read the whole thing here. If not, you can catch up on some of the gimmicks over at BBC News Online or read the common-sense response from Shadow Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
Let’s have a look at some of the “highlights”:
Recommendation 7:
As part of their corporate communications strategy, local authorities and councillors should promote the role of councillors using a range of communication tools, for example by:
a) using the media and communications resources of the council to work to build positive relations with the local media;
b) making use of council newsletters and other media publications;
c) harnessing technological solutions – such as email, web 2.0, blogs and texting – to make councillors’ activities more visible.
The last thing local residents want is more taxpayer-funded “good news” propaganda. Hard-working families do not need to pay for Councils to tell them how great Councillors are - honest Councils should be looking to reduce their output to information-only. There are far too many public-funded publications around. Indeed, the cull can start at the very top with the LGA “Local Government First” freesheet, sent regularly to every Councillor in the country. I’ve yet to meet a Councillor who doesn’t chuck it straight into the recycling bin.
There are a number of recommendations on communication of a similar ilk to this one. I don’t believe we should be legislating to improve the communication skills of Councillors and Cabinet Members. That is for them to sort out (and pay for) as individuals and as political parties.
Recommendation 11:
There should be further work at the national level to actively promote to under represented groups the opportunity to stand and serve as councillors.
I don’t disagree with this, but I hope the Communities Secretary has pressed this point home on her local Labour Party, who have an appalling record at promoting women and ethnic minorities.
Recommendation 12:
The Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity should be examined with a view to its amendment or withdrawal, in order to free up councils to publicise the role and work of their members more effectively without fear of breaking rules.
Translation: Councils and Councillors should be free to spend increasing amounts of taxpayers’ money on almost-explicit political propaganda.
Recommendation 17:
At the time of local elections, political parties should be able to publish a list of reserve councillors, who can replace a councillor of their party who stands down during their term, avoiding the need for a by-election.
Yes, you read that right. The Labour-dominated Commission wants to abolish elections. Possibly one of the silliest recommendations in the report, leaving aside the rather sinister possibilities of unpopular candidates being appointed despite the fact that their Party wasn’t prepared to risk them in an actual election.
Recommendation 20:
In the interests of seeking new ways to engage the electorate, local authorities should be enabled to develop and use schemes which incentivise voting, for example by offering voters a chance to enter into a lottery.
Good to see that the Commission is so confident of the success of it’s other proposals that it has resorted to bribing the electorate to get them out to vote. This seems to run counter to the concept of actually engaging voters within the process. One of Labour’s greatest failings is their failure to grasp that making voting easier is a sticking plaster solution to much greater problems of lack of engagement. Having a lottery gimmick is just adding Savlon to the sticking plaster.
Recommendation 22:
The Government should introduce legislation to bring into force, after a transitional period of four years, a statutory requirement to limit councillors to serve five consecutive terms; and to limit leaders and directly elected mayors to serve three consecutive terms.
I instinctively hate this. Not because I don’t think there are Councillors who should have stood down years ago - clearly there are plenty of them. It is not, however, for me to judge - that is the job of the electorate.
Recommendation 35:
A dedicated fund should be established to provide public money to political parties, specifically for projects aimed at improving the recruitment, training and selection of candidates.
Erm, no. No no no. No. Not a job the taxpayer should be footing the bill for.
Recommendation 39:
Councils should adopt modern business and meeting processes which seek to remove potential barriers to participation. This should include:
a) ensuring meeting times are accessible to both members and the public, with a preference for early evening meetings to enable working councillors to attend;
Now, Councillor Merry, I know the vast majority of your group are paid lots of extra money in extra allowances, don’t have to work full-time and are quite happy to turn up at 9.30am or 2pm, but please pay attention to recommendation 39a.
Recommendation 54:
A national framework for members’ allowances should include a scheme of ‘parachute payments’ for elected mayors,leaders and executive portfolio-holders who lose office through the actions of the electorate. The payments should be at least equivalent to statutory redundancy pay and linked to time served in office.
The Commission wants to pay out large sums of money to senior Councillors who lose their seats. I’m sorry, but that is a risk we all run and it goes with the territory. It also goes against recommendation 3 which is that Councillors should be able to hold down full-time jobs in addition to their Council duties.
Recommendation 60:
The National Framework for members’ allowances should not preclude small allowances being made available to councillors to communicate with their electorate, including where content is explicit about their political allegiance and activities.
Stark raving bonkers. This endorses a Communications Allowance similar to the one that allows MPs to spend £10k per annum on propaganda. Conservatives are committed to abolishing the MP allowance and any Councillor communication allowance should go exactly the same way.
I’ve written far too much already and that is only a mere flavour! I’ve avoided commenting on things like electoral systems and the voting age which are part of a much wider debate anyway. If you’ve read the report and want my opinion on anything in particular please leave a comment…
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