Following the cancellations of this year's county council elections, Cllr Andrew Mier who represents Southern Rother on Rother District Council, gives this view on behalf of the Hastings and Rye Liberal Democrats.
Liberal Democrats are committed to democracy. That might seem an uncontroversial statement, but these are difficult times. Mature, advanced economies stagnate while less democratic ones rise and democracy faces the need to justify its existence. Even in the USA democratic methods and institutions are being severely tested, perhaps to destruction.
Democracy, growth and prosperity no longer seem automatically linked in the minds of many. To those not fascinated by politics, bad-tempered and ill-informed debate seems a far from uplifting or profitable way of getting things done. It has long been said that democracy is the “worse form of government barring all the others” and “two cheers for democracy”. The world is a messy place and we have to navigate our way through it.
The rule of law and a rules-based international system has served us well, despite present problems, and we have had eighty years of relative peace with vastly improved prosperity and public services since the second world war. Those old enough to remember the 50s and 60s may have nostalgic memories of their youth, but would be under no illusion about the material standard of living in those days.
Against that background we have the government's proposals – some would say diktat – to restructure local government. This has been rushed through in Sussex with the three higher-tier authorities – East and West Sussex County Councils together with Brighton and Hove Unitary Authority – bludgeoned into opting for fast-track restructuring with just three weeks and five days between the government's December 16 white paper and the government's deadline of January 10. “Come up with proposals within narrow government-defined parameters or have it forced on you with detrimental financial consequences” was the message. Realistic consultation has been impossible.
We are to have three authorities, based on the areas of the former East and West Sussex and Brighton and Hove to deal with the basic functions of the existing counties and districts combined. There will then be an elected mayor over the whole of Sussex dealing with the big strategic issues. Rother District Council, along with Hastings and Eastbourne Borough Councils etc. will cease to exist.
All this will take a couple of years to achieve. Meanwhile the government has postponed until at least 2026 the county council elections due in May this year. This is deplorable. The county councillors' mandates will have expired and it is those cling-on councillors who will be negotiating the way forward with the restructuring. This is particularly corrosive in East Sussex where the ruling Conservatives have a wafer-thin majority and were expected to be voted out in May. The government white paper says in terms that it will be a good thing to have fewer elections and fewer councillors. How will we defend democracy in the wider world when we behave like this at home?
Finally we have the questionable proposal for an over-arching and directly elected mayor. Liberal Democrats believe in democracy and not an elective dictatorship. We need to watch the checks and balances and governance arrangements for the mayor. Above all we need to ensure that the mayor really has the support of a majority of the electorate. The Conservatives changed the mayoral voting system from one where the winner had to have 51% of the votes, second choices being counted until that was achieved. They reverted to first past the post where a candidate can be elected on a very small proportion of the votes. That can easily happen where, as today, there are numerous parties in the running. What credibility would a mayor elected on, say, 25% of the votes have with the public? Democracy requires better.
