Same Old Faces...

We're off and running across most of the UK. Barely, a year since voting in the last election which to pick our representative for both National and local Government and now politics change once again.

Unfortunately, with the mechanism to dissolve councils virtually immediately after the last election most of the "new" candidates that succeeded in being elected have had little chance to get their feet under the table and learn how politics work and try to do something new.

So here we are...the flyer's are dropping through the letter box, the same promises, same old faces trying to get onto the Unitary Authority and find a way back into the political scene. And old contacts can possibly re-established.

Perhaps there are too many councillors under the present system and the new model reduces bureaucracy and saves money but on the other hand it does mean less representation of the population(there are 375 District and County Councillors at present)This will reduce to 126 and I can see some parts of the region will have to fight even harder to access their share of the budget or to avoid being neglected because of party lines taking priority. The new authority replaces a County Council and 7 District Councils.

On May 1st we vote to reduce how many officials will represent our views(if it can be done at this stage maybe a Unitary Authority was not required)as you could slim down the existing system without creating a new body. But the decision is made. Then we have a transition period for the first 12 months and officially the new body will not start it's work until 1st April 2009. So that suggests to me, a year where very little regarding decisions that affect us will be dealt with as time will be taken up putting the political and legal mechanisms in place. I could be wrong...it's just the way I see it.

I am tempted not to vote but have to hope that once again some of the new candidates are still interested and are going to stand once again, assuming they have not been disillusioned and have the fight in them to go on. The new system has to favour the main parties. And again, following the past history of the last 80+ years most of the area is solidly behind one political party.

Of course it is meant to be a local election voting for local officials running local matters but often how the public votes can be governed by National/International issues and in recent months there have been many incidents especially financially that have been affecting the population(worry over mortgages, pensions, jobs, increases in taxes, utility and food bills and some retired people having to go back into the work place, genuine vulnerable ill people worrying over new rules that could see them having benefits withdrawn and so it goes on)Some still feel that there is a point to be made regarding whether the war in Iraq is justifiable and it's just possible the public may decide to give the party running the country a "Bloody" nose and deliberately vote for an alternative candidate to make their point or simply not bother. Which could put the Government under pressure. It may give an inkling what would happen if a National election was called.

So we'll see how things turn out when "X" marks the spot on May 1st. Until then it's flyer's(they'll go into the recycle sack)and a few letters in the town's free sheet where candidates are criticising each other but at least in the paper some are putting forward their views and hopes for the future.

The first flyer to arrive just has some very nice pictures(probably computer enhanced)of the candidates with a really short description of committees they hold positions on. No policies(but as the new Authority has to commence and formulate it's plans and that can only be done once it knows what colour has won overall control. The first flyer(and I'm being fair by not identifying which candidate or party it represents)to avoid political biasness and I cannot help saying this, the candidates fit a certain stereo typical image which probably worked against them at the last election.

The first flyer states the main aims of the Authority is to:

Improve Services
Simplify the local government structure
Give accountability
Strengthen community leadership
Cost effective and efficient services.

It sounds very good but does it mean anything? We're walking into new and uncharted territory.