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  • Writer's pictureTristan Learoyd

Working people excluded by pension-toppers?

Working people often can't stand for local election. The meetings are always during the day. Worse still, working people can't view council sessions live and crucial representations, like for major planning, are also during the day. This means scrutiny is lower.


My thoughts are that this is deliberate, not only to exclude the public, so shady/questionable deals go through easier, but also for political advantage.


If working people are excluded, so are valuable skills and insight into living standards. It also means the council won't necessarily work for people of working age. It also means the climate crisis and cost of living crisis become secondary issues.


There have been deliberate self-serving attempts in the past - particularly by independents and by Labour - to reduce virtual attendance and refuse evening meetings.


The pension toppers, again, particularly the independents, barter with eachother for paid positions. This also happened with the Labour Party 2011-15. This means the individual councillor becomes less in touch with reality, and starts thinking they are an employee of the council, or that they don't serve residents.


It's also noticeable many councillors on Redcar and Cleveland council can't write a properly formed sentence. There are many examples on social media. I believe this is due to the exclusion of large parts of the local population as the independent group - who are almost entirely made up of pensioners - maintain council meetings, particularly full council, during the day.


I'm standing with Kendra Evans, an NHS nurse, and Karen King, who runs her own business. So the Lib Dems in Marske are a rare example of three working people running for council.


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