Councillors remain in comfort zone

SO Leeds Council leader Keith Wakefield sees in the Leeds rejection of the elected mayor system a ringing endorsement of local democracy.

How can anyone maintain that municipal government is thriving when barely a third of the electorate were sufficiently motivated to vote?

Contrast this with the healthy 80 per cent turnout in the French presidential election. A different beast admittedly but the fact is that a personal city-wide race is likely to engage more voters than the present dreary and convoluted way in which we choose, and are governed by, our civic leaders.

There were obviously many imperfections in the elected mayor model but we need to start reform and renewal somewhere.

For the moment Coun Wakefield and his dreary Labour group, as well as his even duller Tory counterparts and the insignificant Lib Dems, can feel safe as they draw their generous allowances in their comfort zone of interminably tedious committee meetings whose sole outcome seems to be to stifle any truly innovative and popular initiative or – as in the case of the badly-sited arena or the free car parks fiasco – choose the wrong option.

I suppose that we get the mediocre local politicians that we deserve. Although many are thoroughly nice people none of the 99 – surely far too many? – councillors in Leeds seem to have anything like the aspiration, ambition and sheer presence needed to lift our city into the European big league.

Thank goodness we have excellent parks and well-managed countryside, good cultural and some quality team sporting facilities, a world-famous teaching hospital and two high quality universities but this is largely despite Leeds City Council and not because of it.

From: David W Wright, Uppleby, Easingwold, North Yorkshire.

NOW that the dust is settling after the results of the local elections, these have shown that the three main parties have failed to ignite the support of the electorate, and there is now the usual hand-wringing and continuation of the false promises to make amends. Surely the overriding concern must be the pathetically low turn-out which Cameron, Miliband and Clegg have seemingly dismissed.

There is something radically wrong with our voting system and we must now consider implementing compulsory elections or we shall simply stagger from election to election with the same inconclusive results while the UK slides further into third world status.

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

THE coalition Government, not surprisingly, lost many councillors, Tory and Lib Dem, in the local elections.

Some people are saying that David Cameron needs to be more like Boris Johnson, the newly re-elected Mayor of London, if he is to get back voter support, especially from within the Conservative fold.

I disagree; both men are unlike “true” Tories because of their policies and their views. If anything, Boris is even more liberal than the PM.

I am not a supporter of any of the big three parties, but the Conservative leadership are pressing the self destruct button by not concentrating on the issues that most affect the voters.

Most of us do not want UK membership of the EU, nor support for the euro. We do not want gay marriage nor do we care if and when House of Lords reform ever takes place. We do not want a tax on takeaway hot food. We are totally against foreign aid. The big three offer none of these vital and relevant policies, so no wonder less than a third of voters turned out to vote.

From: Tony Reeves, Returning Officer and Chief Executive of Bradford Council.

AS returning officer, I need to be satisfied that the number of votes for each candidate in an election is accurate before I declare an election result.

In situations where a small number of votes separate the two candidates who have polled most votes in an election, it is essential to be certain of the correct outcome. It is therefore right and proper that recounts take place.

The small numerical differences in the results of the recounts between the top two candidates in the Little Horton ward required that they be counted again. On that basis it would have been unreasonable not to have recounted again following a request from one of the candidates during the consultation on the provisional result. Indeed, if the recounts had not taken place the Council would have been left exposed to a potential legal challenge; an election petition could have led to a re-election, with its associated financial costs.

The count took place under the independent scrutiny of an official Electoral Commission observer. I am confident that their observations will demonstrate that officers of the council took all reasonable steps to ensure the integrity of the election process, so that the public can have full confidence in the results.