The only election in East Riding on Thursday was for Police and Crime Commissioner. The incumbent was re-elected. ERYC figures say there are 700,780 electors (people registered to vote). Of those, only 51,083 people have actually voted to keep the existing Commissioner in post. The candidates who came second and third gained 46,846 (4,237 votes less than the winner). 

That low turnout is in line with the low turnout for Goole’s local elections last May. The Police and Crime Commissioner has been re-elected, counsellors were re-elected. The number of people who have voted to give them these positions of power is worryingly small.

East Riding Council has a population of just over 333,000. The leader of the Council, who currently comes from Goole, was elected as a Councillor with less than 900 votes. The current Portfolio Holder for culture and sport, also from Goole, similarly was elected as a councillor with less than 900 votes.

That is the way the system currently works. Legally these people have power. Their moral authority, their legitimacy, to take the decisions they take is questionable. The apathy among voters in Goole, and in wider East Riding, the erosion of trust in our elected representatives, is serious, and should be of grave concern.

How many people who are not connected to East Riding Council and Councillors do you know who is actually in favour of having a mayor? I haven’t met any out on the streets of Goole.

The narrative from the governing party nationally is that they run the nation, and local authorities, as businesses. A nation is not a business, nor is a local authority. The people elected to positions in national and local government are not the executives and directors of the nation, and the people are certainly not their subordinates, even if we ordinary folk are increasingly viewed and portrayed as lazy scroungers.

Too much power is being concentrated in too few hands. The sort of people who like to hold power are too often the last people any sensible person wants to have power over them. They dismantle the systems for transparency, scrutiny and them being held to account. Look at the Post Office scandal where innocent people have been sent to jail for crimes the Post Office new they hadn’t committed when they brought the prosecutions. Look at Thames Water now in dire financial straights because the company took out loans it can’t afford to pay back while paying high dividends. Look at the Banking Crisis of 2008 which is still having a negative impact on all of us 16 years later. Looking at the phone hacking scandal - lots of settlements being paid by the Murdoch empire in settlement so the cases don’t go to court.

But ordinary folk are told to work hard, then work harder, do the right thing, obey the law…

Thank you to everyone who has signed. Keep talking, keep sharing, keep moaning, keep signing!