Voting in the Local Elections

This sermon was preached on 16th May 2004, prior to the local elections in June.

Over the next few weeks, the elections of the new City Council and European Parliament will be taking place.  One candidate for a civic seat suggested to me that this was going to be very confusing for people, but warmed to the idea that come July she could find herself living in Strasbourg.

I rather doubt that most people will find the process of voting particularly taxing, but it is going to be a challenge for us to pick our way through the issues and personalities and make our choice.

In spite of the much-vaunted voter apathy, supremely in both local and European polls, the results of these elections become ever more significant for the lives of the people.  As the old institutions and certainties fade away and the once inexorable momenta of society slow and falter, the identity of a council or parliament can have an increasingly profound impact on the course of events.

Local government is often characterised as a bit of a joke and like all institutions it doubtless has its more bizarre aspects, but this city has seen huge changes recently – certainly in the eight years I have lived here.  There are the highly visible developments of the town centre, of course, but also vast shifts of policy have impacted heavily on the communities all around.

For Christians, these matters should be of primary interest.  Our commitment to Christ’s religion entails a concern for the quality of peoples’ lives; and that is affected by the structures of society that are developed and sustained.

Knowing, therefore, what is happening, which candidates are likely to follow which course of action and voting for the ones that will most closely pursue policies that will, to put it rather grandly, contribute to the inauguration of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, is part of our vocation.

In this, following the old tribal loyalties just will not do.  British society is so much more complex than was the case a few generations ago and the simple choice between red and blue no longer serves well our country or our city.  Furthermore, in some places, though not here, I think, to vote for a particular party is knowingly to vote for crooks and wholesale corruption.  In other places, and this area is one of these, not to vote is to increase the chances of racists, bullies and merchants of hate achieving prominence and influence in civic affairs, as has already happened over in the West.

Newcastle upon Tyne sits at the heart of the most precarious region in England.  Bereft of much of the heavy industry that once funded and sustained the life here there is, or was until very recently, depending on which statistics you read, an alarming rate of depopulation.  If this were to continue much longer, it would begin to make a huge impact on our ability to sustain the infrastructure here, including hospitals and supermarkets.  Once institutions such as these begin to disappear, a vicious circle of decline develops, from which it is very difficult to escape.

To ensure that this trend is reversed, or the nascent recovery continues, depending on which statistics you read, a city council such as ours needs a clear and effective programme for regeneration, which will attract both people and investment.  This is not just a question of lucrative offers for business relocation, but also making Newcastle into a place where people from all over the country, indeed from all over the world, will want to live and work.

However, for Christians, booming prosperity is not an end in itself and we learnt during the Thatcher administration of the country that the “trickle-down” theory of economic management is hardly an effective means of sharing wealth production.  We should not be looking for candidates who will offer the residents of this city for economic slavery to the investors and entrepreneurs.

We look to them to create a framework of civic society that upholds, respects and sustains the dignity of every person living here, particularly those for whom opportunity has not knocked.  To give but one example, we need to understand and address a situation where our high achieving seven year olds become the lowest attaining sixteen year olds in the country.

Clearly in all this, of course, this is a delicate balance and there are fine judgements to be made at every stage.  Such a challenge requires that we are led by people of honesty, honour and integrity, of whom there are many more in local government than popular opinion might suggest.  We need to elect councillors whom we believe to have the needs of the city and its people as their first priority.  We should also be looking for competence in the job, since nothing is as dangerous as the incapably well-meaning.

For the good of our city, we should be looking at the candidates on offer here.  It would be a huge mistake to use the opportunity simply to register our approval or dismay at Tony Blair, Michael Howard or Charles Kennedy.  Increasingly, there is a loosening of ties between the national parties and their local manifestations as the latter make a real attempt to grapple with the issues on the ground rather than simply mirror the ideological precepts of the Westminster leadership.

Boundary changes this year mean that this will be the most hotly contested city election for many years.  It is unlikely that the massive Labour domination will survive.  For many successful councillors, majorities will be wafer thin – our votes, your vote could make all the difference.

Often we look at the world around us and wonder what on earth we can do about all the terrible things we see.  Remember that you do not need news from Iraq or Africa to hear of suffering and misery; it is all around us.  You can use your vote in the city elections to choose a person who will make a difference here – to the people you see and know, and to those behind the front doors past which you walk every day.

However, properly to discharge that responsibility, you must be engaged with the life of the city; you need to know who is who, what they are like and what they stand for.  Voter apathy is blamed on the politicians and media outlets for their presentation.  I don’t believe that; or at least, I don’t think that it is the whole story or even the greatest part of it.

The fragmentation of society has led people to focus very narrowly on the matters that immediately touch on their lives.  We are told that single-issue politics is now the order of the day; but there is no such thing as single-issue politics.  As Lenin said, everything is connected to everything else.  A course of action in one area of society will inevitably impact on many others – money spent on one project cannot also be spent on anything else.

In spite of what some people suggest, it behoves all Christians to be politically informed, because it is through the political mechanisms that the principles in which we believe can be promoted.

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