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10 September 06
Independents in talks on joint election campaign - Scotsman
10
September 06
Independent Councillors Get Ready For Political Party Electoral Attack In
May 2007
The council elections in May 2007 will be held on the same day as the
elections for the Scottish Parliament. Independent councillors fear
they could be at disadvantage as the new wards will be three times larger
making it difficult to get round to canvass the electorate whilst party
label candidates will have the party members moving around supporting the
candidates for the Scottish Parliament and will co-ordinate canvassing and
leaflet drops for the local council candidates who belong to that party.
A loose association might mean that independent councillors who wish
Highland to remain and independent council might co-operate in putting out
information on their record even though they vote on all matters as they
see fit in the best interests of their constituents and do not toe any
party line as is the case in councils further south where a Labour or Lib
Dem administration is formed. Are the days of Highland independent
councillors numbered or will the electorate decide to maintain a majority
of independent councillors? At present their are 54 independent
councillors out of the 80 in Highland. At present the independent
councillors in Caithness are Bill Fernie (Wick West), Katrina MacNab
(Pulteneytown), Donnie Mackay (Thurso Central), Bill Mowat (Caithness
South East), Tom Jackson (Thurso East), John Green (Caithness North East)
Councillors who stood under party tickets in Highland are listed
here. There are three Lib Dems - David Flear (Caithness
Central), Alastair MacDonald (Caithness North West) and Graeme Smith
(Wick) and one Labour Roger Saxon (Thurso West). the current
convenor e of the council Alison Magee (Sutherland Central) is an
independent and the vice-convenor Michael Foxley (Ardnamurchan &
Morvern) is A Lib Dem. Political Parties have been approaching
some independent councillors in Highland asking them to join them and gain the offer of
assistance in election campaigns and perhaps less candidates being put up
against them. So far very few independents have joined although a
couple have in other areas outside Caithness. The meeting referred to in
the Scotsman article discussed the need for independent candidates to take
more robust approach to getting their messages out on what an independent
council had achieved over the years and to take heart that the voters in
Highland have returned a large majority independent councillors over many
elections. The independent councillors who attended the meeting last
week agreed that co-operating to get their message out was good thing but
they will definitely NOT be forming a political party. |
What difference does and independent
council make?
You might think that a council made up of a majority of independent
councillors would find it hard to agree on things that need to be done but
that is not the case. All councillors whether they have party ticket
or are independent contribute to wide range of policies. Some of the
main ones are listed under -
Campaign Priorities of Highland Council
Would these priorities be the same under a party controlled
Highland council?
Independent councillors back people
not parties
Would a council with a Labour/Lib Dem or
SNP Highland administration controlling the council have campaigned to
remove the Skye Bridge tolls when central government did not favour their
removal?
Councillors who are members of political
parties play down their party designation in an Independent council as
they have no choice but to do so and in fact gain many advantages from
independent councillors who select some of them as chairmen of strategic
committees. It is unlikely that the party led councillors would do
the same if they were in the majority on the council. The likelihood
is that they would vote only for their own party members to the exclusion
of any independent candidates who stood for any important positions.
The electorate vote councillors in but only the 80 councillors then vote
for who will be in charge of all of the committees that run the councils
affairs |