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Research by The Standards Board has found that the public believe local councillors to be more trustworthy than local MPs.
The Board’s Chief Exec, Glenys Stacey, is pleased that “trust in local politicians (has) held up favourably compared to people’s views about national politicians.” But the figures are really not that good, with 20% feeling that councillors ‘rarely or never’ tell the truth. And although the questions were asked at the height of the MPs expenses scandal, the results are clearly heading in the wrong direction:
Table: Percentage responses to: How often do you think the following types of people tell the truth?
|
Always / most of the time |
Sometimes |
Rarely / Never |
Don’t Know |
|||||
|
2007 |
2009 |
2007 |
2009 |
2007 |
2009 |
2007 |
2009 |
|
| Your local MP |
29% |
24% |
37% |
40% |
20% |
29% |
12% |
7% |
| Your local councillor |
30% |
28% |
38% |
40% |
18% |
20% |
14% |
12% |
| Politicians in general |
17% |
14% |
44% |
40% |
33% |
42% |
6% |
4% |
It would be fascinating to see some examples behind the allegations of mendacity, though. I don’t think that a significant number of councillors ‘fiddle’ their expenses (the rules are strict and the amounts avaliable relatively low) and I don’t believe that they deliberately mislead residents, either. And, besides, non-executive councillors (the majority) don’t tend to be responsible for ‘pushing through’ controversial policies – they’re usually fighting on behalf of residents to counter the effects of ill-thought out legislation, ever mindful that this is the kind of stuff that gets remembered come polling day.
