Another Guardian story catches my eye. It seems that researchers have found that MPs are subject to "absurdly high demands, and often feel stressed". To those of us who friends with MPs or work with them, then this will come as no surprise. The media regularly spins stories about politicians that devalue them in the eyes of the electorate, but on the whole they aren't true and most MPs work extremely hard on behalf of their constituents.
However, the story got me thinking about what would happen if they did a similar research project on councillors. I suspect you would find a similar, or more likely higher, level of stress.
The biggest problem that councillors face is that it isn't a full-time role, but most of your constituents don't realise this and expect you to be always on call. Many councillors also have to make a living and continue doing their original job as well as being a councillor. And unlike MPs if you lose your seat in an election you don't get any financial support to make-up for the loss of your allowance. So giving up the day job isn't an option, even if the allowances were high enough to enable you to do this.
Another problem is that councillors get very little support to help them do their job. We don't have access to the same fully staffed and paid for office that MPs do. And what little support is available from the council, isn't really flexible enough. A small team of staff based in the civic hall isn't much help if they are only there during normal office hours and you are never near the civic hall at those times.
It is little wonder that it is difficult to attract people to put themselves forward as councillors. Something must be done to improve the situation if we are to attract a broader, more diverse range of people to become councillors. Otherwise we will return to the bad old days when only the retired on a pension or people with alternative sources of income could be councillors.
Personally I love being a councillor. I'm driven by a desire to serve the Labour Party because I know that Labour is the only party that can improve the lives of the people I represent. But sometimes I wish that the personal price you have to pay wasn't so high. Being a councillor has a negative impact on family life, career success, and your personal wealth.
