ON MY MIND With

Graham Davies

ONE of the interesting features about the local elections in Wales was the inexorable rise of the independent councillor – 668 candidates in 2022. In the past the ‘independent’ was suspected to be a closet fifth generation Tory (real name Rupert or Crispin), unwilling to divulge his or her right-wing leanings in a community which regarded Tories in the same light as Darth Vader.

But the new born-again independent often walks straight into the political trap of congregating with other independents for ‘fellowship and mutual support’. This quasireligious phenomenon is mirrored in the ecclesiastical history of Wales when the ‘Independent’ denomination became the Congregationalists, eventually forming a Union, and confusing everyone except themselves.

The religious Independents were motivated by a desire to recover a purer form of faith; do their political counterparts have a similar puritanical zeal? Local resident Ivan Oder said he smells a rat and wants them to come clean about their intentions. Of course, it is possible to be independent if they maintained the old Covid 2-metre rule when congregating (although droplets of ideology have been known to travel further) and try not to declare a unified approach to diverse matters. When challenged about independents using the same promotional leaflet in the election, newly appointed independent councillor Heidi Clare maintained that the decision was made autonomously, and the idea came to them from above quite independently when they just happened to meet up in a fortuitous convergence which was not constituted as a group in any way. When asked about the breakfast celebrations of their victories last week, Chris P. Bacon stated that they were definitely not a party and that the party was not really a party but an independent work event.

I challenged in a previous column the daft first past the post system which last week produced in Wales 70 uncontested seats and argued for local decision making to be made by community representatives elected for their values, experience and skills. I fear that we may have a new Independent Party which will inevitably produce the same tired old faces.