Copeland's problem: not so much politics as One Party Rule
Meeting voters in Copeland over the last week and seeing some of the things posted on social media, there are a number of recurring themes which keep coming up.
The first two are undoubtedly the need to improve transport links and the need to keep services at West Cumberland hospital (for example, #SupportOption1) and there are several other concerns about local services, local shops, parking, better bin collection, recycling and so on which have been raised by many local residents.
And one of the top five messages which we keep getting in Copeland is concern that politicians are out of touch, combined with disgust with politics. Considering how politics has operated in Copeland for many years I'm not in the least surprised by this.
One extreme irony about this understandable concern about politicians is that it immediately creates a difficulty in solving the problem. Paradoxically, anyone who stands up and tries to do something about this will immediately be labelled as a politician in the eyes of many of the public and start getting some of the same flak.
A frustrating thing which comes with being a Conservative (or I presume Independent or other non-Labour) candidate or activist in Copeland is that you have to develop the ability to smile, keep your temper and give a positive response when you get repeatedly blamed for things your opponents have done and that you may well have fought hard against.
If you look around the country at the best and worst councils it immediately becomes apparent what is wrong with Copeland Borough Council: it is a particularly bad example of a problem which often happens when the same party is in power locally for far too long. I call it the "rotten borough syndrome."
Show me any of the worst run councils in Britain, and I'll show you a council which the same party has run with little or no interruption for decades.
Not quite all councils which one party has run for a long time are terrible failures, but all councils which are terrible failures have been run by the same party for years.
Even the most dedicated councillor or MP may not need prodding to make an effort but does need prompting to think outside the box and feedback to keep him or her aware of issues which may be coming up or things which may be going wrong. There is nothing which provides a more effective prompt than the need to seek re-election, especially when there is a real danger of losing.
If people are not afraid of the possibility of losing, if the same party or faction is re-elected year after year, there is a real danger of coming first to believe that nearly everyone shares their views, then that those who don't can be ignored. They you become complacent, arrogant, and develop "not invented here" syndrome, the belief that you know it all, and ultimately to treating the council and it's employees and resources not like something owned by the public for whom you are just the steward, but like a personal fiefdom.
That's what has gone wrong in Copeland.
Over the coming forty days I am going to be putting forward a positive vision of a better future for Copeland. I'm certainly not going to be vilifying all the Labour councillors and candidates, many of whom are nice people, most of whom sincerely want the best for the area.
But I do think that a change - e.g. a defeat for Labour - would not just be in the best interests of the people of Copeland as a whole. If it jolted Labour out of their complacency and arrogance and made them realise that they need to listen more to other people, it might even be in the interests of the best people in Copeland Labour party.
The first two are undoubtedly the need to improve transport links and the need to keep services at West Cumberland hospital (for example, #SupportOption1) and there are several other concerns about local services, local shops, parking, better bin collection, recycling and so on which have been raised by many local residents.
And one of the top five messages which we keep getting in Copeland is concern that politicians are out of touch, combined with disgust with politics. Considering how politics has operated in Copeland for many years I'm not in the least surprised by this.
One extreme irony about this understandable concern about politicians is that it immediately creates a difficulty in solving the problem. Paradoxically, anyone who stands up and tries to do something about this will immediately be labelled as a politician in the eyes of many of the public and start getting some of the same flak.
A frustrating thing which comes with being a Conservative (or I presume Independent or other non-Labour) candidate or activist in Copeland is that you have to develop the ability to smile, keep your temper and give a positive response when you get repeatedly blamed for things your opponents have done and that you may well have fought hard against.
If you look around the country at the best and worst councils it immediately becomes apparent what is wrong with Copeland Borough Council: it is a particularly bad example of a problem which often happens when the same party is in power locally for far too long. I call it the "rotten borough syndrome."
Show me any of the worst run councils in Britain, and I'll show you a council which the same party has run with little or no interruption for decades.
Not quite all councils which one party has run for a long time are terrible failures, but all councils which are terrible failures have been run by the same party for years.
Even the most dedicated councillor or MP may not need prodding to make an effort but does need prompting to think outside the box and feedback to keep him or her aware of issues which may be coming up or things which may be going wrong. There is nothing which provides a more effective prompt than the need to seek re-election, especially when there is a real danger of losing.
If people are not afraid of the possibility of losing, if the same party or faction is re-elected year after year, there is a real danger of coming first to believe that nearly everyone shares their views, then that those who don't can be ignored. They you become complacent, arrogant, and develop "not invented here" syndrome, the belief that you know it all, and ultimately to treating the council and it's employees and resources not like something owned by the public for whom you are just the steward, but like a personal fiefdom.
That's what has gone wrong in Copeland.
Over the coming forty days I am going to be putting forward a positive vision of a better future for Copeland. I'm certainly not going to be vilifying all the Labour councillors and candidates, many of whom are nice people, most of whom sincerely want the best for the area.
But I do think that a change - e.g. a defeat for Labour - would not just be in the best interests of the people of Copeland as a whole. If it jolted Labour out of their complacency and arrogance and made them realise that they need to listen more to other people, it might even be in the interests of the best people in Copeland Labour party.
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