John Harris is absolutely right that political change is coming from a local level (Don’t look to Westminster for new ideas – ask your councillor, 6 May). Residents 4 Uttlesford (R4U) has just taken our district council from the Tories in their heartland (one of our MPs is Kemi Badenoch, a Tory vice-chair) by a massive majority. If the results had only reflected Brexit-influenced trends then the Tories would have lost a handful of seats – but they lost 20, including both their council leader and chair.
R4U is composed of people from a range of political backgrounds who are prepared to work together for the good of the area. The new administration now faces the daunting task of clearing up after the previous Tory administration: a deeply flawed local plan that has already been submitted for review by the planning inspectorate; an infrastructure agreement with Stansted airport that needs substantial rework; and speculative investments that need to be brought under control. Nobody said local government was easy but R4U have made a commitment to be open and transparent about the difficult decisions that have to be made, and the evidence that supports them, and to involve local people to the maximum degree possible in shaping their own future. These changes could be a model for a system that provides real checks and balances between central and local government, and removes the confrontational, partisan style of Westminster politics from the local arena. Uttlesford voters have put their trust in a local party that is determined to make it work.
Richard Gilyead
Saffron Walden, Essex
• Christopher Clayton (Letters, 6 May) makes the same error as our national political leaders in extrapolating a “support Brexit” message from local election results.
As John Harris’s article shows, local issues still figure. In my area of north-east Derbyshire, for example, Labour’s loss to the Conservatives had as much to do with public opposition to the Labour council’s stubborn commitment to building on the green belt despite available brownfield land, which was strongly opposed in three of the main towns in the district and provided the well-organised and funded Conservative opposition with an open goal.
John Harvey
Dronfield, Derbyshire
• It is remarkable that your report (Fresh talks on Northern Irish power sharing, 7 May) characterises the results of last week’s local elections as Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist party consolidating their positions as the dominant voices of nationalism and unionism. Every local newspaper led on the surge in support for the non-sectarian Alliance party and other centre-ground candidates. Good news should not be suppressed.
Patrick Bell
Lisburn, Co Antrim
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