I wonder if other newspapers across Britain will take up the Derby Evening Telegraph's "Anything to Declare?" campaign (see posting below), demanding that councillors declare their previous convictions. I have a feeling that this is the kind of campaign that could catch on with daily and weekly papers who want their readers to know more about the people who are representing them.
The Evening Telegraph's initiative has already borne fruit, leading to admissions by three city councillors. One said he was fined £100 and bound over to keep the peace for being a hunt saboteur, while two others admitted to driving offences. Although their convictions count as "spent" - and, under the 1974 Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, they have a right to keep them under wraps - the trio said they were happy for the Derby public to know. Now the paper is inviting all councillors in the region to come forward and reveal all.
The campaign was launched after it was revealed that a former council leader had a 1971 conviction for molesting a child. In the light of that revelation, the paper wants all election candidates to reveal their past convictions in their election nomination forms. It also calls for it to be standard practice for local authorities to carry out criminal record checks on those candidates who are elected.
I really can't see a downside to this, though I would hope that voters view such information sensibly. People convicted long ago for a single offence have paid the price and should be presumed to have repented, so they should have the right to serve the public. However, in these days of geographical mobility, we need to know more about people who either work in sensitive jobs (ie, with children) and, by extension, those people who appoint them (even if the link is remote). Transparency has become the watchword of 21st century Britain.
