Thirty-three years ago, I was heavily engaged in an election campaign which would lead to my eighteen year career as a county councillor. Two years previously, I had unsuccessfully sought election simultaneously to Parliament in another part of the country and to the district council in my home village.
As candidates across the country, and from all parties and none, prepare for the May local government elections, I have been reflecting on the advice that I would give them based on my experience and the luxury of hindsight.
I mention the unsuccessful election (and there was to be another unsuccessful parliamentary election attempt a few years later) because it is important for any politician at local, national or indeed European level to know that she or he can be rejected, removed and sacked by the electorate.
No candidate or elected politician can or should ever take the electorate for granted, even in so-called ‘safe seats’. And there are perhaps fewer safe seats for any party today than for many years.
You must always: treat the electorate with respect and humility; listen and communicate with them; be honest about what you believe in, and what you can practically do; explain when you can’t do want they may want; and show them that you care for them and the place you are seeking to represent.
My initial advice is directed at candidates who aim to win (as opposed to just gain some experience of electioneering).
First, you must passionately want to be a councillor and have a clear view as to why you want to be elected and what you wish to do for the community. It is most probable that you will be standing as an official candidate of a political party so you also need to be committed to the values and policies of that party.
Second, you need to understand and appreciate the likely probability that you will win and be confident that you will be able to give the necessary time to being a councillor should you be elected. Employers should support employees being councillors but not all do, and families should never be taken for granted.
Third, you must be willing to work hard at canvassing and electioneering, and be able to recruit and enthuse volunteer helpers. You have ideally to be team player in the campaign and once elected.
Fourth, you should ensure that you know sufficient about the area and place of the council as well as the ward in which you are seeking election. You need to understand the demographics, social and economic conditions and trends, the state of local public services and, wherever possible, public attitudes towards these services.
You will have some good knowledge of the local authority’s current performance, the state of its finances and its ways of working (clearly, once elected, you will gain more information and understanding of these but it is never good to arrive as a freshly elected councillor with no such knowledge – this can lead to shocks and even disappointment). Of course, you will also need to be fully aware of your party’s manifesto and rules for councillors and council groups.
Fifth, you should recognise that to be a successful candidate (and even more, to be an excellent councillor representing a ward), you need to build personal relations with local voluntary and community groups, employers and businesses, schools, faith and community leaders and other representatives (for example in two tier council areas or if there are parish or town councils or in multi-member wards, you will need to know the other elected representatives and develop a working relationship once elected, even if they come from different parties – an exception would potentially be if they are members of extreme racist parties when it would be appropriate to have nothing to do with them).
Once elected, a new councillor has to decide how much time she or he can afford to commit to this important role and to honour their commitment to the electorate. Then and only then can a councillor choose how to divide the available time.
My advice to any aspiring councillor is to maximise the time that you can devote to the ward. Good councillors should first and foremost be community organisers and continuously meeting local residents, community, voluntary and faith groups and local businesses. Dialogue and learning are critical.
This not only enables a councillor to represent her or his ward but it informs her or his strategic decisions at the corporate council level.
I won back for my party a very marginal ward and my four consequential elections were always very closely fought in what always remained a marginal ward (boundary changes making the ward still more marginal from the second of the five elections).
This meant that I felt the need in effect to be continuously ‘campaigning’ at ward level, and this was the case even after I had become leader of my group and increasing strategic leadership role on the council. ‘Campaigning’ mode is a fantastic driver to keep a councillor close to his or her patch.
The community representative and leadership role requires: holding advice surgeries; attending community meetings; perhaps being a school governor or similar; working with local community and voluntary groups; having good relations with the local media; and being freely available to respond to local residents and others. Social media and technology are very important for councillors at the ward community level, as well as at the strategic level.
A councillor must also commit time to play an active role on the council itself, perhaps on an overview and scrutiny committee or regulatory committee, as well as in her or his party group. A councillor elected on a party ticket has to maintain good and active relations with the local party too. These relationships are not simply for every four years when there is an election, andcouncillors who see it that way often find themselves de-selected. In any case, if party colleagues have worked and raised money to get you elected, it is churlish to ignore them. They will expect you to tell them what you are doing and to explain your actions.
In my experience, it is useful for newly elected councillors to focus on one or two policy and service areas in order to build one’s confidence and expertise, and to be noticed by one’s peers and the group leadership.
Elected councillors have to adopt the role of community leaders. They have to influence and work with other leaders and practitioners in the wider public sector, and the voluntary and business sectors too. They have to understand and gain the respect of these organisations and people within them. Local residents want outcomes and are not necessarily interested in institutional boundaries, so councillors have to be able to work effectively and collaboratively across agencies and sector.
In 1981 when I was first elected and throughout my eighteen-year period as a councillor, the authority faced hard choices and budget pressures, including some painful cuts. The situation facing those seeking election in May 2015 is much more challenging. This should not be an excuse ‘not to seek election’, but all candidates have to understand the harsh reality that they will face.
They will wish to do the best they can to promote and protect the interest of their place, its communities and their electorate. Hopefully those standing for political parties will be doing so on carefully planned and costed manifestos designed to address these realities but I do fear that all too often, this will not be the case.
Councillors, individually and collectively, have to be prepared to make unplanned decisions and should, wherever possible, be guided by their political and personal values, principles and policy commitments, and by the voices of those whom they represent.
There will be very difficult decisions to be made – there always are and especially in the current political and financial environment. Councillors will need to be clear with themselves and their party about conflicts of conscience or where local ward interests are in conflict with wider or party interests. Candidates need to understand that these situations may arise before they commit themselves.
Politics is about choices and hard decisions. For many of us, being a councillor was and remains about: representing local people and putting their interests, especially those of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged first; promoting opportunity and equality; ensuring that people have access to the best possible services; and securing strong sustainable communities and local economies.
2015 is not 1981 but I like to believe that there will be thousands of candidates standing this year with the same motivations, commitment and enthusiasm as I had and saw in others some thirty-three years ago.