democracy in the city
Friday 25 April 2025
As a follow up to resolution put forward at both Cripplegate and Aldersgate Wardmotes about the success (or lack of) of the Speak for the City campaign, Alderwoman Liz King asks questions at Court.
CRIPPLEGATE RESOLUTION
The Ward of Cripplegate commented that on election day 2025, electors in Cripplegate Ward will have a choice of ten candidates standing for eight Common Council seats but in fourteen of the 25 City of London wards voters will not be able to take part in elections as the number of candidates is the same as the number of seats available.
The Cripplegate Wardmote therefore seeks an investigation into the process which has failed to deliver a fully democratically elected group of members to Common Council.
ALDERSGATE RESOLUTION
The Ward of Aldersgate seeks an independent enquiry into the ‘Speak for the City’ campaign. The campaign invests some hundreds of thousands of pounds, with stated performance measures to:
- increase the number of contested wards at the 2025 and 2029 elections;
- increase the number of voters at the 2025 and 2029 elections; and
- increase the number of candidates at the 2025 and 2029 elections.
This year the Ward of Aldersgate will democratically elect members to represent our citizens. However in 14 of the 25 City of London wards there will be no elections and by default there will be fewer voters exercising their democratic right.
Either the ‘Speak for the City’ campaign has failed or the system of election to Common Council has failed. In either case an independent enquiry is called for.
Watch from 45:28
transcript
START 45:27
Alderwoman Liz King: Firstly, let me congratulate Alice and her team for their heroic efforts and thank all candidates. It takes courage to stand. At our hustings there were many questions about democracy and accountability. Resolutions were passed in two wards concerning the impact of the energetic and well-resourced Speak for the City campaign. Whilst no one can be forced to stand or vote, it not only failed to increase the number of candidates resulting in 14 uncontested wards but also failed to meet its own performance measures including both increasing the number of candidates and the number of contested wards. Moreover, turnout was as low as 11% in one ward. Policy chair what are your plans to enhance our democratic legit legitimacy and reduce reputational risk?
Policy Chair, Chris Hayward: I would also like to thank our officer teams for all their hard work delivering our elections. We have 28 new honourable members and I look forward to the valuable contributions they will undoubtedly make to our proceedings.
Now it is our usual practice to conduct a review post-election to identify areas for improvement and honourable members, all honourable members, will have a chance to feed in to that review as we set about it.
The Speak for the City campaign which the Alderwoman referred to aimed to boost registration complementing initiatives to engage our business, worker and resident communities including the City Belonging Project and City Question Time. The ward list grew by 1,416 registered voters between 2022 and 2025 from 19,595 electors to 21,01 electors and this represents a 7.2% citywide increase driven largely by business voters.
This engagement also sparked considerable interest in standing for election – more than 130 potential candidates attended our speak for the City reception and 118 attended candidate briefings but whilst the final number of candidates did not drop compared to the last election we do appear to face difficulty in converting high levels of initial interest into candidature. We can all acknowledge that seeking elected office and being an elected member takes a lot of time and work for many at certain points in their lives it’s not appropriate or desirable to do so. Sometimes our debates in this place and in committee aren’t appealing to outsiders. Furthermore, whilst our nonpartisan nature unquestionably brings strengths it does mean that there is no party political machinery directing candidates to specific wards or ensuring candidates are fielded in every ward.
It’s incumbent on all of us in this honourable court to make the case persuasively I suggest to the talented people that we meet, encouraging them to vote, to stand for election and demonstrating to them and to all our stakeholders the difference that they can make as a member of the City Corporation and I encourage each and every member of this honourable court to join with me in trying to do that.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION 49:50
Alderwoman Liz King: It has been said to me that perhaps the timings of the meetings during the working day inhibits particularly younger candidates from standing and hopefully that will be addressed going into the review that the Policy Chair has promised. I also think we need to consider the resources spent by businesses in registering which is admirable that we’ve had some more seeking and allocating voters etc and then after all that effort not actually having a contested election in those wards presents a risk to our other engagements and our opportunities to work more closely with our businesses.
It has been said to me that perhaps there are too many wards and or counsellors for the potential pool of candidates. We note with regret the failure of the campaign to increase representation and suggest that completely fresh thinking is now required to revive democracy in the city.
It is suggested that a Citizens’ Assembly style meeting is convened to bring together residents, businesses, elected representatives, officers, religious and cultural leaders to discuss a new approach to addressing this problem. Will the Policy Chair consider this option?
Policy Chair, Chris Hayward: I do have sympathy and agree with the points that she’s made to this court this afternoon. Firstly, on timings of meetings, I understand the pressure on people attending meetings during the daytime where they have employment and I commit to inviting the review, that I will talk about in a moment, to actually look at that issue as a specific point.
As the Alderwoman has raised it with us here this afternoon I think the she’s right as well that the resource that businesses and companies take of allocating electors and then finding they don’t have a contested election in which to vote is disappointing, let’s not pretend otherwise. Of course, I would prefer more contested elections because they give increased and enhanced democratic accountability and visibility.
The Alderwoman also makes the point that maybe there are too many wards and candidates [councillors?] and that is why members who’ve returned here will remember that I committed to a review of our franchise once these common council elections were over and I re-emphasise and restate my commitment to that today.
Senior officers in the town Clark’s department are already working on the scoping of this project and last year policy resources said that we should look at that during this electoral term. It’s a big piece of work, honourable Members, and it will take time so I want to make sure as well that we widely consult with all of you as to your input and views during the course of that review.
We agreed also back in 2023 to commission a ward boundary review led by the Recorder, the Common Sergeant and the Town Clerk following these most recent elections and again I restate that commitment to this honourable Court this afternoon we will do just that and have a wide review of the franchise of the ward boundaries, the numbers of counsellors, the timing of meetings and many, many, many other issues as well which might be affecting our democratic turnout in the elections.
– (auto-generated transcript provided by YouTube with minor corrections and tidying up)
