Letter: Party Politics Not Needed in a Pancake Mix

Published on: 22 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 22 Feb, 2026

From Gavin Morgan

See: Council Decisions Are Inherently Political and other recent letters here

Cllr George Potter [Lib Dem, Burpham] claims all council decisions are inherently political. I suppose someone immersed in politics would think that. I would argue otherwise.

Council decisions are not party political. It’s the people making them who are and that is the problem.

In a separate letter, Cllr Vanessa King [Lib Dem, Stoke], argues that a new town council for Guildford needs to be political to work.

Let’s stop for a minute. A town council is not Westminster. It is not even a borough council. It deals with pancake races, drains that are not being fixed, Christmas lights, park benches, supporting local community groups, representing local views on planning issues, supporting local initiatives.

It is about as close to the people as local government can get. Anyone who thinks those sorts of decisions need a political view is focusing too much on national politics at the expense of their local community.

Cllr Potter clearly demonstrated in his letter why politics at such a local level is a bad idea. He just could not resist taking a swipe at other parties.

Do we really want a bunch of political activists jockeying for power and bickering? If one party gets a majority and dominates all the decisions the other councillors might as well go home.

The problem with political parties is that they exist to dominate and wield power. That may be necessary at a national level but not at a local level. A town council does not need power struggles. It needs a team.

And you don’t need political labels for elections to work. If a candidate can only win votes by representing a party are they really suited to be a councillor? Town councils don’t need people with party political values, they need people with community values.

Unfortunately, given that the current borough council, dominated by political parties, will be responsible for setting up the town council it is hard to believe it will not be politicised.

But I believe Guildford needs a town council to strengthen and represent the local community. To those who want to use it to strengthen and represent their political parties I say, hands off! No politics please, we’re locals.

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