I'd vote to ban party politics from councils

9:26am Thursday 3rd May 2007

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I WILL let you in to a secret today, and will allow you into my mind and my polling booth as I cast my votes in the local elections.

Yes, I am going to break the taboo and tell you who I am going to put my cross by.

Editors of local newspapers don't usually do this for fear of losing their impartiality.

But I am going to let the cat out of the bag and confess.

In my time, I have been accused of being a right-wing Tory as well as a loony leftie.

I can't surely be both of these, so it's been a subject of much discussion among politicians.

And I've been constantly accosted by candidates from all three main parties during this election.

All eye me up with the suspicion that I'm "not one of them" because I look in a hurry to get away.

The truth is I'm normally rushing because I'm late and Mrs Editor's Chair is about to throw my dinner into a Wycombe District Council green recycling bin.

I do try to pass the time of day with these people as politely as I can so as not to be rude, while at the same time working out how best I can make a break for it.

But the crowning glory of the election bombardment on me came on Sunday.

I was minding my own business safely in my Englishman's castle when there was a knock on the door. I thought it could be someone exciting, quite forgetting there was an election on and that I should be hiding behind the curtains.

So I opened up and there stood a grinning candidate.

But did this person thrust an election leaflet in my hand? Did they try to tell me how they were going to change the face of Wycombe forever?

No... they asked for a glass of water.

I was momentarily stunned.

Was this a new election ploy to prove that candidates were sober upright individuals? Was I next going to be asked for a muesli bar?

I obliged with some mineral water, but then for a joke sent the candidate a bill for 12p, which didn't appear to go down that well it must be said.

But actually, this particular candidate is rather good.

I like this person and I might well end up voting for them.

But equally there are two candidates of two other parties I rate quite highly as well, so I might vote for them instead.

Anyway, to return to my original promise to tell you my polling booth intentions, I can now reveal who I am going to vote for...

It beings with the letter c.

No, it's not Conservative, nor is it Labour or Lib Dem, or Green or yellow or raving monster loonies.

My letter c stands simply for candidate.

I will vote for the people I most believe will do the best job for my town and my district.

I do not care what party they belong to, because it's farcical in a local election that we have mini-Blairs and baby-Camerons strutting about.

The things I hate most about the whole process are indeed the rosettes. There is absolutely no place for these in local government.

I don't want my councillors to be following political ideology or conforming to party whips in important votes.

I want them to work out the best way to collect my rubbish and to keep my taxes down.

If I ruled the world, or the council, I would ban party politics from local government forever.

Then we would be truly represented by our neighbours and not party headquarters. I know I poke fun at them, but most of our councillors and candidates are decent local people with strong convictions and good ideas about how to improve our lives.

If only they could cast off their political allegiances, I'd like them all a whole lot better.

The only winners after the election should be the voters.

They should control the councils.

But instead we'll be governed by a victorious political party and things will never change.

Isn't it time to give councils back to the public?

I'd vote for that.