by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 5, 2021 | Democracy & Participation, News, What Local Politicians Do, What We Care About
I have been chairing the WLGA’s working group on Diversity in Democracy since the previous chair, the formidable Cllr Debbie Wilcox, was elevated to the House of Lords in 2019. Debbie was the first female leader of the WLGA council, a great advocate for equality, and...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Dec 4, 2020 | What We Care About
At our meeting on 3rd December 2020, Swansea Council became the first in Wales to join the UBI Lab Network’s campaign for a pilot of Universal Basic Income in the UK. I am so proud to have proposed this motion, after adapting the wording from a draft provided...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Nov 4, 2020 | Equality & Human Rights, News, What Local Politicians Do, What We Care About
At Council on 4th November 2020, Cllr Alyson Pugh and I proposed a motion committing the council do deliver a Pension Credit take-up campaign. The motion text explains how this benefit is so under-claimed. Running this campaign was an election pledge which Cllr Nick...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 7, 2020 | Democracy & Participation, Equality & Human Rights, What Local Politicians Do, What We Care About
Overwhelmingly, older, white men are elected for public roles while other types of people are very unlikely to even put themselves forward. Two ideas help this situation continue. FIRST is the concept of: “the best person for the job”. Would you ever pronounce...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 7, 2020 | Democracy & Participation, Equality & Human Rights, What Local Politicians Do
Wales-wide conversations about how to increase diversity in our elected organisations have concluded that most people have a very, very poor understanding of exactly what local councillors do. We desperately need more women, people of different ethinic minorites,...