Politicians can change parties but should then let voters have a say

WHEN I was a young journalist part of my role was to cover council meetings. In those days they bore only passing resemblance to those that take place today.

- Judith Phillips

Back in the 1960s party politics didn’t come into play in the council chamber.

Every councillor was elected as being independent of political affiliation, meaning that, on the face of it at least, they weren’t influenced by political allegiance.

It meant that at the ballot box they were elected mainly on the basis of what electors believed they would do for the community they were representing, rather than their allegiance to a political party.

Of course, most of them would be supporters of a party, but this wasn’t brought into play during the election process.

People voted for the person, not, as often happens now, for the party they were representing.