As reported by the BBC Local Democracy Service, a recently re-elected Labour councillor has decided to leave front-line politics after accepting a paid role with Bridgend Council.
Stuart Baldwin – who retained his seat in the new Bridgend Central ward last week – effectively disqualified himself from being a county councillor by accepting a job with BCBC.
While the law has been changed to allow council employees in Wales to run for office with the council they’re employed by, they can’t accept a paid role with the council and be a councillor at the same time – meaning they have to choose one or the other.
Before the story broke, there were signs that Stuart Baldwin was yet to accept his office – something most councillors do immediately. He wasn’t listed as an elected councillor on BCBC’s website, which was later updated to say that his term ended on 4th May.
Stuart Baldwin served as both Cabinet Member for Communities and Mayor of Bridgend county during the last term. He also based his decision on what he described as the “toxic nature” of local politics after being subjected to abuse and harassment – one incident of which is being investigated by South Wales Police.
In addition to Bridgend Central’s county council ward, Stuart Baldwin was re-elected as one of six members from the Morfa ward on Bridgend Town Council.
How is this allowed to happen? What happens next?
Needless to say, situations like this are very, very rare. I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like this happening before other than when candidates died before an election could be cancelled and were elected because they were still on the ballot paper.
The news has certainly come as a surprise – a shock even to BCBC’s Labour group given it means three Cabinet Members from the previous term are now gone. Labour would politically stand to gain nothing from a by-election in Bridgend Central as well, which would almost certainly be keenly contested by Independents.
It’s reasonable to question why he stood in the elections knowing he could potentially disqualify himself.
However, it’s a decision he’s entitled to make and he could still change his mind. Nobody officially becomes a councillor until they’ve formally accepted their office. So he hasn’t done anything wrong in that respect.
The law, as it currently stands, means there’s a deadline of two months from election day for councillors to formally accept their office. If they don’t do so in that time, their seat becomes vacant automatically and a by-election is triggered. BCBC are reportedly seeking advice on the timings.
So the seat is currently set to become vacant on or around July 5th, triggering a by-election which will likely take place in early August (possibly for Bridgend Town Council too, but that’s not confirmed).
“Hypothetically speaking”
“Revolving door” appointments like these always have the potential of looking….dodgy.
Let’s consider a hypothetical stituation.
A situation such as a councillor being interviewed for and accepting a well paid role (for argument’s sake, £40-50,000-a-year) in the same council department they ran as a Cabinet member – essentially overseeing their own recruitment.
Let’s also assume that the role is a technical or engineering-style one that you would expect to require high level qualifications (probably masters or doctorate level) and relevant professional experience that the councillor may or may not have.
Something like that – hypothetical, of course – would raise questions on conflict of interest grounds alone. Serious questions would await any council officers or political leaders who allowed it to even be considered. Let’s hope nothing like that comes out down the line. I’m sure Bridgend Council wouldn’t be that braindead seeing as they’ve assured us all that they’ve learned lessons from the Arbed scandal.
What a start to the new term, eh? ONE WEEK! ONE-BLOODY-WEEK!
