A Plea to The Residents Associations

I am sure all those voting in the election on 6th May will use their own judgment and wisdom to select the party they feel can represent them best. In so far as the election literature emanating from the Residents Associations helps to clarify their position, I welcome it. However the negative and disingenuous campaigning of their recent leaflet is no help to democracy, nor is it any help to individuals debating who best to vote for.

What is a Political Party?

The latest salvo of their politicised literature dropped through many letter boxes this weekend. Amongst the claims their leaflet makes is that, and I paraphrase: 'If you are weary of party politics and mistrust politicians...then vote for us.' This is a bold claim from a group that has politicised local elections consistently to a level unprecedented in the rest of Surrey. The constant running down of anything emanating from a Conservative, the refusal to acknowledge anyone else's ideas, even if they are clearly good ones, does tend to reek of a political agenda. The greatest problem in the bold claim comes when one analyses the nature of those Residents Associations who make this claim.

They are registered political parties.
They run election campaigns.
They stand for public office in elections.
They are funded by membership contributions.
They take a political stance on issues.

Suggesting therefore that they are not politicised groups is disingenuous in the extreme. The very suggestion is spin aimed at courting the votes of those who believe the magazine that comes through the door is not a politically driven pamphlet. It is doubtless a clever strategy, particularly at a time when MPs have catastrophically let down not only the entire Country but also all national political parties.

Career Politicians

However to imply as they seek to do in their literature, that the local Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour members are career politicians is simply piffle and nonsense. We are local people who care about where we live.

Council Tax

In the pamphlet the Residents Associations go on to make the following statement: "The current rulers of the Council 'promised' to keep increases [in Council tax] to zero, but put it up by more than twice the rate of inflation last year when there were no Borough elections..."

At risk of reminding those Councillors in the Residents group what it is Local Government is about, it is not about "ruling." It is, unlike the perception of some in opposition, about representing the community we were elceted to serve. No Councillor "rules" anything. Every Councillor, MP, or otherwise elected representative is a servant of the community who elected them. They were elected to give effect to the policies of the party they represent for the good of that community. The God complex demonstrated by this comment is unsalutary, dangerous, undemocratic and out of touch.

What the Residents' leaflet keeps very quiet about is that in the last 4 years under a Conservative administration Council tax has gone up a sum total of 4.9%, with the Leader of the Council, Cllr Roy Taylor, recently announcing another nil increase for the forthcoming financial year. In the 4 years before that under the Residents administration it went up 60%!

Thanks to prudent management in the last 4 years we do have some ring-fenced sums that will hopefully see us through what will be even more difficult years in 2011 and 2012, but that is by no means certain. If the Residents Associations had their way that would already have been depleted to a level making it inconsequential to the probable levels of income necessary to cover the public sector pensions pay review, to cover the falling interest rates on local Council investments, and to cover the extensive shortfall caused by derisory grants from Central Government to Surrey Councils.

Councillors Allowances

In addition to all of this, the leaflet has the gall to attack the Conservative group on the issue of Councillors allowances. This year there was no rise. Last year the vast majority of Councillors, including all but a handful of the Conservative group voted against any rise, and so there was no rise.

As a result Councillors at Elmbridge receive one of the lowest allowances in the Country. That is not an issue for the vast majority of us, as we are here not for the money, but for the privilege of helping our community. However, we have to have an eye on ensuring the allowance doesn't fall too far behind where independent auditors tell us it should be, because it would mean that potential new Councillors would not be able to afford to do the job.

In spite of this the Residents Associations appear not to have taken the slightest notice of the democratic case for a sensible level of allowance, and are instead calling for the reduction of the allowance. It appears they are only prepared to take such a bold stance in their literature. No such stance was taken by them when the matter was discussed in Council this year or last year.

A Plea

I would plead with all parties to be straight forward and completely honest with those we are here to serve. The only reason for negative campaigning is if you have no substance to your own policies or promises. So please a little more time spent on how to achieve what you set out to do and a little less on castigating other parties that are doing their best too.