Hilary Salt

We need councils and councillors who are truly accountable to the electorate. And we need a new kind of politics based on our national interest and on a wide and continuing public debate about what our national interest is. This way we can get government that actually represents us. The public are fed up with tick-box consultation exercises where governments at the local and national level pretend to listen to ordinary people. And it's not good enough for politicians simply to tell us that "the science says" this or "the markets say" that so there is no alternative. We need a real political dialogue where new ideas can be contested and debated. This has to start at the local level. In local elections, residents are concerned about potholes, waste collection, green spaces and our streets. In all of these areas, I will work to ensure that the council works with local people to support ground-up responses and actions so that residents can have real ownership of their community life. Councillors often claim they cannot control the biggest part of their budget as it's spent on statutory services mandated by central Government. But councils look to outsource all this service provision to private companies, often owned abroad by venture capital. Why should our rising council taxes go to line the pockets of shareholders? I will campaign for more services to be provided in-house so that more of our taxes go to the local economy and councils are forced to be truly accountable for their budgets. This will not be done overnight. But even small steps will increase the knowledge available in-house, meaning that councils will be better able to negotiate with external providers and local government will build up its capacity to provide services. Vote for me in Sale Central if you want a councillor who will work to close the gap between local government and the people it is supposed to serve