Support our Nation today - please donate here
News

Deputy leader urges more young candidates and those from diverse backgrounds to stand for election

04 Jun 2022 4 minute read
Cllr Emily Owen

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

Conwy’s new deputy leader says politics needs to change so more young people can serve on the council.

Cllr Emily Owen is likely to be the youngest councillor to serve as Conwy’s deputy and says more needs to be done to attract councillors from diverse backgrounds.

The recent election saw a record intake of 26 new councillors into Conwy’s 54 seats.

Cllr Charlie McCoubrey was re-elected as leader, selecting his cabinet from six independents, two Welsh Labour and two Plaid – including 27-year-old Conwy Labour councillor Emily Owen as deputy leader, also holding the portfolio for housing.

But Cllr Owen now says she wants to see more young people and those from diverse backgrounds standing for council in future.

“The intake of councillors this time has been different, and we are making headway in that regard,” she said.

“We need younger people, more female representation, LGBT, black people, disabled people. We need to be making politics accessible for everyone, and I’m pretty sure it is not.

“There is a lot of work to do around that. Politics is not set up for young working people to get involved in. I absolutely think we need to be encouraging young people to stand for what they care about.

“Part of the problem is when you look at national politics, some people think that they don’t know anything about it. It is a mindset. But it is about thinking about what you care about in the community and how you can change that.

She added: “If you don’t get into politics, politics will get into you because it affects everything, every single decision you will make, jobs, housing, education, social care, health, every aspect of life.”.

Hybrid meetings

Stereotypically, councils are often made up of an overrepresentation of older men, many of whom are retired.

Whilst Cllr Owen believes hybrid virtual meetings have made it easier for younger, working-age councillors to attend, she said a lot more needs to be done to encourage people from a wider demographic.

“It is much better in a democracy if you’ve got a wide range of representatives from all walks of life,” she said.

“If you’ve got all those viewpoints and all those life experiences in one place, it is much more likely we are going to be able to come to a decision that is going to benefit everyone and not inadvertently leave a whole section of people out, and that happens far too often with young people.

“There are more young people coming through, but it is a slow process, and it is difficult getting women involved in politics in the best of times, especially young women.

“Women, generally speaking, have got a lot of caring responsibilities, but if you think about how the political system was set up, it was set up for privileged white men. Working-class men didn’t get a vote. It wasn’t set up to be inclusive.

“The salary of a backbencher is sixteen grand now. Some people aren’t able to live on just that, so they will want to juggle it with work. It is quite a lot of juggling, balancing being a councillor and caring, and still working.”

Union

“If I hadn’t become deputy leader, I would have had to continue to work. But I’m lucky because if I had had to do that, I was working for a union who are incredibly flexible. I don’t know how flexible a private care home would be if a member of staff was a councillor and had to leave for a council meeting. It does become much more tricky.”

She added: “So who is politics accessible to? You’ve got retired people; people who own their business and can sort their own hours out; people who don’t need to work alongside it, and then you’ve got this whole hunk of people it’s still not quite right for.

“I still don’t know the answer to what we do about that. But it is something we need to look at in politics. Generally, things aren’t accessible, and that is why you don’t see younger people of working ages because it is really difficult.”


Support our Nation today

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Richard
Richard
1 year ago

Conwy is perhaps in many ways the most successful local authority across the northern coast of our nation. It’s history of changing coalitions and leadership reflects the ability in Wales to go with the flow of Westminster politics….and to later go against it ! Tory Labour Plaid have all represented it in Cardiff or Westminster with historical switches to the SDP. and liberal near wins Wards represent a diverse set of stages in Welsh life. The old Labour leading quarry areas of Penmaenmawr and Llanfarfechan and Llysfaen through to retirement zones like Kinmel Bay , Colwyn Bay and Abergele. Strong… Read more »

Llinos
Llinos
1 year ago

Careful. Diversity seems to upset some people.

Richard
Richard
1 year ago
Reply to  Llinos

I agree the party and group swop is an art in Conwy – mastered by many of the lead members – though of course not in the same league as the beloved Ynys Mön…..…well at least until they changed the system a few years back.

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.