On Tuesday 22nd April, Politics in Pubs met here to discuss how there is nothing to stop a determined unelected individual making a difference to the decisions and procedures of local councils.

We were delighted to welcome our speaker, Carl, a serial independent candidate in local elections, whose journey has exposed underhandedness, lies and even election fraud.  But where those in charge have looked the other way and covered-up wrong-doing in order to protect the status quo.

Late bloomer

Carl describes himself as a ‘late bloomer’ in the field of politics.  Out of respect for the war service of his relatives, Carl exercised his right to vote at every election but took no interest in what happened once the election was over. It was not until he reached the age of about 40 that he began to pay more attention – beginning to question how the taxes he paid were being spent, and who was making the decisions.

None of your business

Carl noticed that MPs benefitted greatly from an expenses system which financed the purchase of property in London at the taxpayers’ expense.  He wrote to his MP Phil Woolas to ask what he intended to do with the profit from the sale of his London property. “None of your business”, came the reply.

Failing to comply with the law

Carl then began to notice council job vacancy advertisements in the local papers which restricted applications to people of particular ethnic identities.  He felt that such discrimination was not right, and that the council was failing to comply with the Race Relations Act.  The Commission for Racial Equality agreed.  The council’s response to the Commission was not contrition but a demand for the name of the person who had complained about them.

Untrustworthy trustees?

Another council notice appeared in Carl’s local newspaper.  It related to a piece of land, 30 acres or so, given to the local people by a Victorian benefactor.  The notice stated the council’s intention to change the land’s charitable status.  The change in status would enable the council to use the land for building a new school (instead of building it upon the school’s existing footprint).  The notice appeared just a day or two before expiry of the consultation period.

Carl managed to negotiate an extension of the consultation period with the Charity Commission, and he used the time to study the land’s original covenant and its restrictions.  He discovered that the land could not be transferred by the council in this way.  Local authorities are required to act as trustees for charitable assets – like this piece of land – and, in this case, the council had failed to manage it in a way which complied with the law:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authorities-as-charity-trustees/local-authorities-or-councils-as-trustees-of-charities-a-guide-for-councillors

Carl contacted his local councillors – they were not interested.  Nor were the planning officers.  So Carl sent a dossier of evidence to the Charity Commission.  The Commission accepted Carl’s arguments and rejected the council’s.

Someone needs to do a better job

After repeatedly seeing how ineffective the councillors were, Carl decided he could do a better job and stood as an independent candidate.  Standing in a local election is free.  Carl used his own money to produce the 2500-3000 leaflets which he and his family distributed to each of the ward’s households.  He received between 350-400 votes at that first election.  At each subsequent election (eight in total) Carl’s vote share has increased to about 700, always beating the Conservatives, mostly beating the Liberal-Democrats, but never beating Labour.

Missing register

At the count for one election, Carl noticed that the last ballot box to arrive contained an abnormally high number of votes, 90% of which were for the Labour candidate.  He subsequently purchased copies of the marked register to study the turnout.  The marked register is used to verify the number of votes cast on the day of the election – it should correspond with the number of votes in the ballot box.  But the marked register relating to the last ballot box was not available to buy – Carl learned that it had never arrived at the count.  A missing register should render the corresponding ballot box invalid, and therefore excluded from the final result of the election.  Candidates should be informed that this is the case.  But the Returning Officer made no such announcement on the night.

When is a crime not a crime?

Carl reported the missing register and electoral irregularity to the police, the Electoral Commission, and the Cabinet Office.  They didn’t want to know.  At Carl’s request, another candidate from the election also wrote to the Returning Officer, and received a reply stating that he (the Returning Officer) had also reported the matter to the police, the Electoral Commission, and the Cabinet Office.  You would think that a Returning Officer’s report would be taken very seriously by the authorities, and that they would launch a thorough investigation.  Yet the police closed the crime because the council had explained the missing register away as ‘lost property’.  Carl decided to investigate further.

Postal vote fraud

Using the marked registers and local knowledge, Carl observed that one man – a Labour councillor – was registered at two different addresses for a postal vote.  Postal vote fraud carries a maximum sentence of two years.  Carl reported the matter to the police, but they refused to act, citing ‘limited officers’.  Carl persisted and was eventually invited to make a statement to police about his suspicions of postal vote fraud.  He heard nothing until a newspaper reported that the Labour councillor had been cautioned by police following an investigation into electoral fraud.

Two tier justice

Carl contacted the CPS to ask why the councillor’s offence of applying for a postal vote from an address which was not his own had not been prosecuted in the public interest.  He received an unsatisfactory response and asked both the police and the CPS for a copy of the statement he had made when reporting his original suspicions.  He was told it was not on file.  The cover-up made Carl wonder if two tier justice was at play i.e. whether a UKIP councillor accused of postal vote fraud would have been treated with the same leniency as the Labour councillor.

Making a difference

Carl often attends – and films – council meetings.  He uses the footage to challenge the accuracy of council minutes and has been able to have them corrected for the public record.  Carl has challenged many aspects of local governance and scrutinised those making the decisions, always remaining polite, rational and forensic. Carl wants to make a big difference to his local area and intends to stand again as a councillor for the Reform party.  The impressive tale of one man up against the collective might of low grade councillors continues….

Discussion

Thank you, Carl, for being so persistent, and quietly drilling away to make public servants accountable.

There are similarities with the US election in 2020 with postal votes and ballot drops.  The postal vote system is known to be invalid.

Postal workers have reported being followed when they are delivering postal votes in the North West.  One postman reported delivering 17 postal votes to one household.  Women of some communities are required to sign but not vote on their postal ballot.  Postal vote fraud is not being treated as important – demonstrating that our system of democracy is merely an illusion.

Originally, postal votes could only be requested for a good reason but now they are available on demand.  There have been situations where politicians have promised grants to communities in exchange for delivering up batches of postal votes in elections.  Half of developed countries have banned postal voting because it is so corruptible.  DOGE will almost certainly investigate the effect of corrupt postal voting on the US 2020 election.

There is evidence of similar corruption in universities where policy meetings are not publicised until the last minute, and votes on policy matters are held with a quorate of 200 rather than being open to all 10,000.

It’s shocking but not surprising.  If the authorities can cover up mass child rape, election fraud pales into insignificance.

Why are the press not interested in investigating further?  The local press is dying out.  It relies on the Local Democracy Reporting Service which is funded by the BBC.  Reporters need to make a living so they are not inclined to rock the boat by publishing stories like Carl’s.

If Reform succeeds at the May elections will they be infected by the obvious corruption of our political system?  New parties don’t have the same baggage.  Reform are challengers. Peter Hitchens describes the Labour and Conservative parties as ‘two corpses propping each other up’.

Many of our politicians have succumbed to lobbyists.  The big business lobbyists gift and reward politicians to influence policy and ideology.  We need politicians to support local people, not corporations.

While there are bad actors, the corruption in the machine is often laziness – we all want to live a quiet life.  Rocking the boat is hard to do.  Trump is a disruptor and the machine doesn’t like disruptors.  But a disruptor is exactly what the UK needs.

Too many politicians are pre-compromised and controllable, which is why we end up with bad politicians.  Hitchens is correct – however, Reform may be serving to control the energy being generated by rejection of the two corpses by the electorate.

Agency by local people is essential.  For Women Scotland was just three ordinary women who challenged the Scottish Government’s interpretation that the words ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ could mean ‘certificated gender’ as well as biological sex.  Last week the Supreme Court ruled that the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex only and NOT certificated gender.  The three women saw something was wrong, and took responsibility for challenging it.  We must be bloody-minded like they were, instead of relying on political parties to act for us.

Politics in Pubs Manchester would like to thank Carl for an inspirational account of how he has made a difference in local politics.  Thanks also to our wonderful hosts at The Welcome Inn.  Cheers all!

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