Who would be a politician?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2019

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

At a time of political turmoil the results of this week’s local elections show people turning away from Britain’s two main parties. Both Labour and the Conservatives have lost votes to the smaller parties and the independents amid anger over the Brexit deadlock. So who would stand for election in this toxic environment? Nearly 9000 people in England and Northern Ireland have been elected as local councillors this week. We met one of them. 27 year old Charlotte Leach has become the new councillor for Mobberley in Cheshire. She’s unusual because the average councillor in England is a 59 year old white man according to a recent BBC survey. We found out what makes her tick. Produced by Harriet Noble and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.0	Just before we start, you'll probably be fine with the bad language that you're about to hear.
0:11.0	But a quick warning, this episode does also include detailed and explicit talk
0:17.5	about local government politics right from the start.
0:23.3	Hello, I'm Matthew Price. This is beyond today from BBC Radio 4. Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
0:43.0	Today who would be a politician? He'd call me a politician.
0:50.0	He called me a disgusting Tory bitch, told me that I should be ashamed of myself, repeatedly
0:56.2	told me to fuck off.
0:57.9	That is what Charlotte Leach faced on the election campaign trail this week.
1:03.0	Charlotte is 27, and today she became the new Conservative Councillor for Mobbly in Cheshire.
1:10.0	Why would she want to do that to herself?
1:13.0	The average councillor in England is 59, White, and a man,
1:19.0	probably called David or John, according to a recent BBC study.
1:22.8	Almost 9,000 seats across England
1:25.8	and Northern Ireland were being voted for.
1:28.9	And today, we just wanted to talk to someone
1:31.2	who isn't your typical counselor about what is in it for
1:34.5	them. Now let's get one thing out of the way. For most people the local
1:38.6	elections are not exciting. I'm not exactly glued to the results as they come in but people across the country
1:45.4	did vote and so the results do tell us something about how much support the parties
1:50.8	have and the big takeaway is that the two dominant parties of British
1:54.8	politics, Labour and the Conservatives are in really big trouble. They face serious
	...

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