Dear All
One of the stagnation events of the last 50 years has been the dominance of the two parties of the Left, the SNP and the Labour Party. In order to restore more democracy and choice to the public, we need to convince voters there is real and viable choice. Not just that there is real choice but also that t is desirable to embrace that choice. 2022 is the Council elections, in Glasgow, in areas like Pollok, the status quo means that two Labour and two SNP has been bad for residents. You think you are voting for a full time Councillor getting full time pay when in fact, wrong, you are voting for a part time councillor. I suppose the question immediately is, how do you know? The answer is simple, The Register of Interests, this a register that can tell you various financial interests an elected politician has. In the case of all Pollok Councillors, it tells you that they have second jobs. And while they are doing these second jobs for an employer, they aren't working for you to solve your problems in Pollok. Here is a link to the City of Glasgow website, if you live in Glasgow, look up your Councillor and then click on their register of interests, second jobs are the norm. I personally want to see second jobs for councillors banned, of course that means raising councillors' pay, which should be set around £35k a year. We expect elected politicians to be full time working for us, but a culture has grown up where second jobs is the norm and some people scoot by doing the bare minimum for the communities they were elected to represent.
If second jobs are to continue, and let's face it, there is no political will to end the practice from any of the main parties, then there at least should be a ban on doing them within normal working hours of 9 to 5. Let me ask you this, do you seriously think that a (part time) councillor is working 40 hours a week from your community? If not, how many hours do you think they are doing? 20? 10? 5?, some councillors in Glasgow only pre-covid did 4 surgeries a month, some fare a little better and have registered 6 surgeries. In Cardonald, one councillor does 4 surgeries a month, and only one is a weekday, all others are on a Saturday. The only issue beyond poor service and a bad deal for constituents is how much can they spend looking at the work of the council? I would ask you this question, what are the most important things you need when being educated? The answers are quality of tuition and time, time to understand and analyse what you have been taught, everything you learn requires time for knowledge to sink in. In the case of vast councils like Glasgow, do you think a few hours is enough to understand a multi million pound enterprise?
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/budget
And that is just the budget, what about all the departments of council, Councillors get a department contact for raising issues, but how well do they know the inner workings of the numerous departments in Glasgow, and their policies? Councillors sit on every committee, is there a system to rotate them off onto other committees each year to better understand the council operations? Local councillors sit on their area boards, so they get an enhanced overview of their own patch, but what about the processes and people which run the machine? You don't have to be a mechanic to drive a car, but to be better as a councillor, you need training and time to learn the operation. One story that came across my screen was someone who knows that doing a bad job isn't acceptable as a councillor. Joanne Matheson is one of seven candidates standing in the Fort William and Ardnamurchan by-election on December 2. By-elections in rural aren't viewed as a big deal unless they are for MSP or MP, council by-election, the parties' leadership bare register them as worth their time beyond 'good luck to x'. In this upcoming by-election, Joanne Matheson has an unique pitch, it is 'don't vote for me'. Ms Matheson stood previously for election in 2017 and said she intended to do so again, something which I am keen to do. However, she said family health issues and starting a new business in the past 18 months had taken up "increasing amounts of her time." As I mentioned above, one of the most important things you can give to any enterprise is 'time', to be good, you have to be diligent.
She said:
"I realised that if a by-election in Ward 21 was to arise I would not be in a position to stand."
After realising that only one person, from the Green's had registered, she put in her papers, I am surprised that she didn't wait longer because all the mainstream parties would have stood and are standing. Seven people representing various parties and none will contest this election on December 2. In 2017, Joanne Matheson got 177 votes at stage one, and as the stages moved forward, she dropped out of contention at stage 4. But the thing is, she tried in a ward where an independent in 2017 came top with 1,550 votes. The by-election is happening following the the death of Conservative Councillor Ian Ramon, he was one of 4 Councillors representing the Fort William and Ardnamurchan Ward. In many by-elections, the supporters of the candidate who dies generally comes out to support their replacement so maybe a Conservative could win this seat. There is however also a strong independent vote as seen by the election of Andrew Baxter so that may play a factor as people in the North of Scotland are more willing to open minded to an independent as their representative. On paper, it would seem to be a two horse race, Conservative and SNP, but it will partly depend on how much resources parties and independents are willing to put in, in this case, people on the ground to speak to voters. I don't see Scottish Labour as viable particularly in the rural areas of Scotland. Scottish Labour tends to be central Scotland orientated except in the big cities of the North like Dundee and Aberdeen. Funny enough, with the deadline closed, there is no Scottish Labour candidate listed as standing. I am surprised, actually beyond surprised, Scottish Labour is a mainstream party, and they cannot find someone who is even a paper candidate. What does this say about the state of Scottish Labour under Anas Sarwar? Every seat at any time should be fought for if that seat is available.
Finally,
there are six other candidates standing who are; Mark Drayton, Sarah Fanet,
SNP, Roger Liley, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Andy McKenna, independent,
Ruraidh Stewart, Conservative and Kate Willis, Green Party. Due to election regulations,
Joanne Matheson remains on the ballot paper. In a little over 10 days, we will
have the ballot and the result, either earlier in the morning or counted later
in the day. There can be only one winner in this by-election, so if there is
any surprises, then maybe I will do a story on the result. If you use google
maps you can see a layout of the place, and using street view, you can see this
looks like a lovely area with stunning views. It would be an interesting place
to do a campaign, if you were an activist. One thing I would say, if you know
you cannot commit to being an effective councillor, don't do it, sadly not
everyone has the integrity shown by Joanne Matheson, she is putting the
community before herself, something which should be the norm but sadly isn't.
Yours sincerely
George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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