East Herts People

What exactly is ‘East Herts People’?
It is a non-party ‘party’, a flag of convenience, a post-modern third way, for people who would like to serve their community and directly influence how it is run, but who do not want to have to align themselves with a national political party in order to do so.

Why have a Party at all?
The political process needs parties for stability: there has to be an ‘Administration’ formed by the party with the greatest number of Councillors. The High Court has held that several independents do not constitute a political party; fluctuating alliances of independents do not work, and waste time and money. It may be that the Party does not win enough seats to form an administration but it could then form an alliance with other parties to become part of the administration.

What’s wrong with the existing parties?
There is nothing wrong with them, but what relevance do Westminster Party Politics have to issues in East Herts? The main Parties would ask their members to vote for party above principle, following Disraeli’s maxim of “Damn your principles! Stick to your party.” This has happened in East Herts where the existing Administration has incurred costs of well over a million pounds through bad decisions, and used the party system to inhibit an open debate. The press in the latest incident is believed to have spent £30,000 through the Courts obtaining information that the leadership did not make available, and indeed had misrepresented to elected Members and the public.

All politicians behave like that:
if you think like that, you will never make the world a better place! Although the actions of the backbench members led to the forced resignation of the previous leader, he still remains a member of the Cabinet. His loyal deputy became leader, and the same Executive Members are still in post with one honourable exception. Nothing has really changed – voting for East Herts People is an opportunity to send a message to politicians that competence and transparency matter.

So does a ‘post-modern non-party’ stand for anything?
As well as wanting to attract new people into the political process, East Herts People wants to change the way the elected Members operate. The 2000 Local Government Act has produced for District Councils the ‘Cabinet’ system, which has alienated ordinary District Council Members around the country. It has diminished and marginalised the role of the Ward Members, who should be Community Leaders, not powerless party hacks. The Act gives enormous powers to the Leader, who appoints his Cabinet, who are not then in any way accountable to the Ward Members, other than through ‘Call-in’, which means publicly opposing your party colleagues and is therefore rarely done. We know that around the country there are many different ways of interpreting this Act: we want to see an interpretation in East Herts that makes the Executive accountable to elected Members, and gives prominence to Ward members for District, Town and Parish as leaders in their Communities, and encourages them to work as Teams, whatever their party allegiance.

If the cabinet system is so disliked, why do we hear nothing about this?
There have been articles in the national press, but the main reason is probably that there is a reluctance to reveal the cost. In 1999 the budget cost of allowances and expenses in East Herts was £90,000 between 50 councillors. In 2005/6 it was £430,000, a rise from an average of £1,800 to £8,600. The workload has not increased: the housing stock has been sold off and contracts outsourced. Parish and Town Councillors often do more work for no expenses or allowances. Why pay East Herts Councillors so much? Did you vote to approve such a huge increase to your elected East Herts Councillors? Is it right to pay District Councillors but not Town and Parish Councillors?

What does it take to be an effective District Councillor?
This is not a semi-professional position, as Central Government is trying to promote. All that is needed is enthusiasm and a real concern for the people you represent, and most of the work can be done in the evenings and at weekends.

It comprises roughly three elements. First, you need to deal with correspondence, emails and requests to see you about a particular matter. You need to take and be seen to be taking an interest by attending events taking place in your ward particularly town/parish meetings and meetings of other community related organizations. Second, you need to attend council meetings and meetings with officers when you have a query, although much of this can be done be email/telephone. The meetings should amount to about five a month. Third, you need to consider offering yourself for service on outside bodies such as school governing boards and organizations, which allocate EHDC a place.

In summary, the Councillor has two roles: to be a champion and advocate for the residents in the ward, and to be a policy maker.

Can a Councillor be effective if in full-time employment?
Yes, but the current administration refuses to address this issue properly. The answer is probably again tied up with money. The Council can indeed be organized so that teachers, lorry drivers, dentists, professional footballers, accountants and cleaners can be effective councillors, but the current Council is dominated by part-time consultants and the retired who may well have a vested interest in maintaining that the workload requires long daytime hours to justify the payment of allowances. East Herts People wants to implement much better management of the decision making processes, and wants to see more Councillors with current management and financial skills elected to East Herts Council.

Why not simply vote for the other parties?
The opposition on the Council has in our view been pretty spineless, but then there are 41 out of 50 forming the administration, which can be quite intimidating for the few. This democratic deficit has led to bad government, pointing yet again to Lord Acton's dictum about power tending to corrupt. There is little sign that any party is attracting new, younger supporters, so at the election you are likely to see the same old party suspects put up for re-election, except that they are all now four years older than they were last election. So why not see if a party of talented independents like East Herts People would be more successful at running the District efficiently than the current group of national party nominees?

Are District Councils likely to be re-organized?
A White Paper has been issued, and it is likely that there will be important decisions to be made. Do you want this administration, which has made such a mess of implementing the 2000 Act, to decide what East Herts should do? Would you not rather have your Ward Members decide what is best for your Community? Do you want your Ward Members to be influenced by games played at Westminster?

How does East Herts People think it can win the elections in May 2007? We can win by having better ideas and better candidates. We also have to have a good infrastructure, and that means a delivery network, regular e-mail communications to supporters, a good website, a blog, and good promotional events. However, we will not neglect those who have no access to the internet. We understand that this group comprises many elderly and poor people who are the ones who most urgently need our help. We will cater for all. We are fortunate in England that we are not allowed to spend money to 'buy' elections, and we want to keep it that way. Voters like to see leaflets come through their door, and to keep within the statutory limits these have to be delivered by hand during an election period. We need to recruit an army of supporters who believe we can change the system for the better, and who will deliver to every house in East Herts.

How will this be administered?
From October to March we will have a part-time administrator in our Hertford office, who will build the membership, send out regular communications, co-ordinate the selection of election candidates by ward EHP members, organize the campaign and ensure that all delivery volunteers and candidates are in place by the time the election period commences.

In a nutshell, what are your top three priorities?

How do we join and what will it cost?
We ask you to give us your e-mail address and £1 (or three first-class stamps) for membership to 31 December 2009. (Do not worry about sending the £1 – give it to us when you see our umbrella stalls in the markets or in public places over the winter – but do e-mail us now through the website or join@EHPeople.org). We will be primarily an internet party, communicating mainly by e-mail, website, and blog.

How can you finance an election campaign like that?
We hope that people will catch the vision of the need to bring democracy back to the people, not push it towards the centre and the professional politicians: we hope they will see that we need to find ways to re-engage everybody with the democratic process: we hope they will see East Herts People as a way towards achieving this, and contribute generously to our fighting fund at Lloyds TSB account 01777539 sort code 30-94-17.