My days on campaign trail when councillors weren’t paid for their time
THIS is the time of year when the fast approaching local elections remind me of my time as a councillor way back in the 1970s. It was all very different then and, of course, the elected members were not paid.
I first stood for election in 1972 as an innocent 29-year-old!
In those distant days, there were a lot of councils requiring elected members. Aside from county councils there were the borough councils and then the urban district councils and rural councils, before we then elected parish councils for the villages that had them.
It was not unusual for elected councillors to also get elected to parish councils, as some in Derbyshire still do.
Derby, up until now, has had an election for a third of the council for each of three years and then a year with no election. That is strictly accurate, but before Derby became a unitary authority, it also had a number of seats on Derbyshire County Council. The fourth year was when the county council held its election, and it still is.
Yet in 1972, my first attempt for the council, I can still remember at this time of the year. I am not sure how candidates for the elections are selected nowadays, but 50 years ago when I was a new candidate it was the local party that chose their candidates. Then there were only three parties and many wards could not find a Liberal candidate, so the Labour and Conservative Parties in many wards had to fight each other. That was the case in my ward, which happened to be where I lived.
Door knocking and personal canvassing was expected and also, on election day, knocking up your supporters to go to the polls was the normal activity. We needed a number of cars with us as many voters expected a lift to and from the polling station.
With only two television channels then, the door was always answered and people did go out to vote.
Turnout for the local council election was at least 60 per cent, and often higher. A general election for Harold Wilson in 1970 got more than 80 per cent in some areas.
I cannot remember what the percentage was for my ward, but I was well satisfied to get a majority in excess of 1,000 votes that day!
After the voting closed, in those days at 9pm, candidates would go home to don a suit and collect their spouse to go with them to the vote counting at the town hall. I was thus elected, when there was no payment for the job of councillor. If that had not changed the following year, the strain on my finances would have caused me to resign.
The year 1972, in fact, marked the change in local government. The urban and rural councils were abolished and new larger councils formed from their merger. 1973 saw an election for the fresh councils, and this was when a council was first elected for four years – as Derby will now be after this last year of just a third elected.
I stood for election in 1973 and was again chosen to serve. The payment for councillors was introduced, but only for those elected to the 1974 council and beyond.
This hardly excited anyone as the payment was the grand sum of £5 a meeting. I do believe I was paid almost £600 that first year!
The council leader was not paid differently, so a normal job alongside the role of councillor was essential. In those days, no one could afford to sit as a county councillor as well as a borough councillor – a far cry from the present time when the payment to a leader of both councils creates a well paid job.
Sadly, I am far too old for the roles now!