Tag Archives: councillors

Michal Siewniak

What next for Councillor remuneration? 

By Michal Siewniak | Sun 16th March 2025 - 2:30 pm

I remember it so well. In July 2024, at our Handside Residents’ Forum, we looked at the Council finances. A rather interesting topic! I must say that even today, I am quite surprised how many people are unaware of the actual “wage” Councillors earn. First, I have to explain to people that we don’t get paid but we receive a small monthly allowance, which of course varies from District to District. The allowance, which is taxed, helps to cover some of our duties, which are associated with our roles; traveling, petrol, or even booking venues for some meetings as other elements of the budgets have been cut e.g. Community Chest funding in our case. I get paid just over £400. I receive only a basic allowance as I don’t hold any senior positions within the Council and I don’t Chair any of the remunerated Committees.

Although the Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel reviews our allowance, I always struggle when this topic is being discussed at our Full Council meeting. The last one took place on 12th March.

We all had a civic debate about this subject and it was important to listen to what my fellow colleagues had to say. Some were lucky enough not to rely on the Councillor allowance and asked whether they could reject the increased allowance. Others were saying that due to their personal or financial circumstances, they actually rely on it. Yes, every little helps as one famous advert says, especially if you are a student Councillor. Given the ongoing cost of living crisis, the immediate increase of NI and other pressures on public finances meant that the actual debate on the increase of the Councillor allowance was at times uncomfortable.

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David Chalmers

LibDem EU Liaison Councillor Scheme

By David Chalmers | Thu 13th April 2023 - 5:44 pm

At the Spring Conference in York, one of the Saturday lunchtime fringe debates, hosted by LibDem European Group (LDEG), focused on developing links at local government level between the UK and the EU. As several speakers pointed out, whilst we were still members of the EU, numerous channels existed to keep these channels open. But not anymore – which is yet another example of things that we once valued, lost through Brexit.

For the past year I have been holding discussions with the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) to find a way for the UK – initially led by the LibDems – to participate in the informal network of local councillors, which is being set up across the member states of the EU, responsible in their local communities for keeping up to date with EU affairs, sharing relevant information with other councillors in their community and informing constituents via newsletters, social media posts, surgery-style meetings or engaging with them on the streets or in cafes and other places where the local community comes together.

As the relationship between the UK and the EU develops over the coming years, helped hopefully by the policies the LibDems are crafting ranging from education to science to trade and farming, we will be reconnected with our European neighbours, and it would help our cause to offer our fellow citizens a source of contact offering factual information from trusted people in their community, that would help to foster greater awareness of the benefits to be gained from a closer relationship with the EU and lead eventually to the UK regaining its star as a member state.

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NewsHound

Survation: Majority of Conservative councillors dissatisfied with own party’s performance

By NewsHound | Fri 20th January 2023 - 3:25 pm

This week Survation reported the results of a survey undertaken in the last month. They polled 710 councillors of all parties across the UK. The results are interesting, if painfully predictable for the Tories.

Survation asked the councillors to assess the local performance of their party in 2022. Liberal Democrats came out with a net satisfaction rating of +92% (which is remarkably high); Labour councillors had a net satisfaction of +73%, but the Conservatives came in with a miserable +21%. Note that this is their assessment of their local performance for which they were responsible.

If you think that last figure is low, it gets far worse when councillors were asked about their party’s national performance. On that, the Conservative councillors net satisfaction is a staggering -53% (note the negative). In fact 72% of Tory councillors said they were somewhat or extremely dissatisfied with the performance of the Conservatives nationally, compared with only 19% who were somewhat or extremely satisfied.

Labour and Liberal Democrats managed net satisfaction ratings of their party’s national performance of +65% and +56% respectively.

The survey also explored the favourability rating of the various party leaders. You can read more detail in the report, but it is worth mentioning how the main party leaders were viewed by Lib Dem councillors: Not surprisingly Ed Davey had a net favourability of +80%, while Keir Starmer achieved +5%, and Rishi Sunak was on -76%.

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Michal Siewniak

Faith, spirituality and the role of a Councillor

By Michal Siewniak | Mon 30th May 2022 - 9:53 am

Only a week or so ago, I sat down at our Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council Annual Meeting. I sat thinking whether I did the right thing. I sat wondering whether, after a 6 year gap, it was the right decision to stand again. One of the Labour Councillors, a really decent guy, said to me: “Michal, you’ve done it before. You really wanted to do it again? You are crazy”. There were a few moments before the meeting, when I was reflecting on sacrifices that many of the Cllrs have to make. Most of us have to work, full or part-time. There are plenty of evening meetings and our presence at home, or lack of it, will be felt. In my case, with 3 school-aged daughters, my conscience was searching for an answer for this question. The beginning of the meeting was really powerful. The Full Council meeting is the only meeting of the Annual Calendar which begins with the prayer. A short prayer, read out at the beginning of the meeting, had such a huge impact on me. I felt once again a “calling” to public life and that I am not alone in fulfilling my duties as a Councillor. Moreover, our prayer reminded me about my most important part of my role as a Councillor; being at the service of others.

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Michal Siewniak

Why did I decide to stand?

By Michal Siewniak | Fri 4th February 2022 - 9:10 am

A lot of people think that I am mad. A lot of people think that politics, even at the local level, has never been more toxic.

Those who decide to stand, often do it for a number of different reasons. I strongly feel that being a Councillor is not like a vocation; it is a vocation. You do it, because you believe in it, you feel a sense of civic duty. Most of the time, you want to make a difference and improve your local community.

Standing is never easy. There are a lot of barriers and obstacles to overcome. If you want to do it, unless you stand in a super safe seat (do they still exist?), you have to put a lot of hard work into it; casework, leaflet delivery and canvassing, which I personally absolutely love! Door-knocking gives me a great joy, even when I don’t get a warm reception on the doorstep. Standing, whilst being a “foreigner” is probably even harder. As soon as I open my mouth, people know that I am not necessarily very “local”. This, in all honesty, doesn’t bother me too much; I will never judge someone based on their accent or the colour of their passport.

It is a wonderful feeling and more importantly a huge privilege to REPRESENT a particular area and a particular community. Moreover, being elected, at the local or national level, means being at the SERVICE for other people.

As I said before in many of my previous articles, I absolutely love the civic process; I enjoy listening, talking and working with people. This will never change, even if my circumstances do. Speaking to residents on regular basis gives me a fantastic opportunity to find out how people feel about politics at the local and national level. It worries me hugely that so many individuals that I’ve encountered feel deflated and disheartened. Some are not planning to vote. The sense of political desperation and political apathy is felt throughout the country.

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Councillor abuse on social media – what can we do about it?

By Andy Boddington | Sun 26th September 2021 - 9:30 am

Social media is the expression of all of us. Collectively and individually. Even if people don’t participate in it, its impacts cannot be ignored.

Social media is all of us on the internet, on phones, laptops, smart speakers and an ever growing number of devices. It is almost as everyday as conversation.

Except social media is not like conversation. Any abuse in conversation is usually sporadic. On social media it can be relentless. This commentary comes from someone who has engaged with online communication since the late 1980s. I get abuse as a councillor but not as much as some others. The deputy leader of my council has just resigned citing online abuse.

The question for all of us in public life is how we cope with the flack and the abuse. And can we limit it?

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Tahir Maher

An opinion piece

By Tahir Maher | Wed 22nd July 2020 - 12:00 pm

Both the Tories and Labour have a dominant elected represented presence across the UK on many different bodies. Because of their current dominance, people almost expect that they should be represented. Such prevalence has allowed some poor performance, by these parties, to be masked/accepted as the public find it difficult to see beyond, what has become, their own basic political norms.

The Lib Dems message is not being heard. We live in a liberal country that has liberal values, a liberal outlook on life and politics, and there is one real party that represents those values – the Liberal Democrats. We can’t get aligned with these dominate traits that the voters live by. You do have to ask the question why?

I am not going to go off on some socio-political anthropologically discussion, simply as I am not qualified to do so. But I do want to look at why we are not being heard or are more relevant across the country.

There are many reasons – not enough reach in the ethnic minority’s communities – yes OK, we have rightly supported more women candidates in the party for internal and external positions (although I would say where we have replaced white middle-class men, in most cases, with white middle-class women and not women who are care workers, single mothers, from working-class families etc.), we don’t have any traction in urban housing estates and so on.

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Liz Lynne

Setting up a Network of Experience

By Liz Lynne | Mon 9th June 2014 - 12:30 pm

Liberal Democrat badge - Some rights reserved by Paul Walter, Newbury, UKWe have so many people in the party that have held office of one sort or another over the years. We must make sure that we find a way of retaining their expertise and at the same time give them the support that they need.

I have been thinking about setting up this new network for sometime but I think now, more than ever, it is the right time to do it. For too long many elected members who have lost their seats feel that their contribution to the party hasn’t been properly appreciated.

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Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera

Opinion: Can anyone explain the Lib Dem obsession with potholes?

By Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera | Sun 4th August 2013 - 4:00 pm

Ruwan pot holingI read August’s AdLib today with much dismay. I wonder how many of us have found ourselves squatting beside a hole in the road, posing for a photograph, and subsequently pondered on why we weren’t voted in?

I completely understand the rationale of acknowledging local priorities and the important safety considerations of potholed roads, but are we getting our priorities right when we establish major campaigns over such mind-numbing issues?

Surely the focus on these little concerns, at the expense of far more important and life-altering policies, only diminishes LibDems in the perceptions of potential voters?

Do we really want to be viewed as pettifogging obsessives about the depth of tarmac when essential services such as schools, health, housing and social care are under threat?

Although I am repeatedly advised by the pundits and pollsters “This is what the focus groups are talking about” I do not find that this is the first concern on the electorate’s lips when we talk on the doorstep. Voters want to know about drops in local education standards, the lack of public transport to enable rural employment and, increasingly, the loathed bedroom tax.

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Chris White

Opinion: Pickles pensions off councillors

By Chris White | Tue 8th January 2013 - 9:21 am

The winning Kendal Town CouncillorsSome of you may have heard this brief anecdote before.

Some years ago a civil servant appeared in St Albans attempting to sell some ‘new’ ideas from the Government of the day about local government. He stood up before various district and county councillors in Hertfordshire and announced that ‘in future the Government wanted councillors to represent the people to the town hall rather than the other way round.’

He said it without malice or irony and as a result was not lynched – turning up some years later to dismantle the Audit Commission.

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