The by-election for a councillor to serve the Nairn Ward (No 19) on The Highland Council has been won by Stephen Kenneth Fuller - Scottish National Party (SNP).
Stephen Fuller was one of six candidates, who contested the vacancy, created by former Councillor Colin Macaulay stepping down in March.
The other Ward members are Councillors Laurie Fraser (Independent), Michael Green (Independent) and Liz MacDonald (SNP). Voting was by the single transferable vote and Stephen Fuller emerged as the winner at the 4th stage of the count.
The turnout was 71.44% there were 6601 valid papers and 149 rejected papers. The other candidates were: Ritchie Cunningham - Scottish Liberal Democrats, 2406 votes. Stephen Kenneth Fuller - Scottish National Party (SNP), 3135 votes. Chris Johnson - Scottish Labour Party, 455 votes. Mairi MacGregor, 893 votes. Paul Carlo McIvor - Independent, 1440 votes
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| Stephen has a wee blether with former Councillor Colin Macaulay |
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| Stephen being interviewed by the Press and Journal |
Congratulations Councillor Stephen Fuller. We wish you all the very best - and we know that you'll always put Nairnshire and its families - first and foremost!
ReplyDeleteEx-Councillor Colin
At the minute the SNP could put anybody as a candidate and they would get in..... It's a travesty that yet again we will be saddled by centralisation policies as that's what they are all about .....power and control.
ReplyDeleteAll wrapped up in a disguise so they just try and make you think they care about Nairn when they are only interested in party politics....
Sour grapes....NO NOT AT ALL just realistic and of course knowing full well that politics really has no place in local government.
Bitter .... - Moi? ☺
ReplyDeleteI dont know Stephen or how good a councillor he will be but it does concern me that party affiliation will always come before local loyalty. I hope he will do well but whatever he does will only be done if its OK with the ruling SNP in Glenurquart road as we've seen before.
ReplyDeleteWorrying that there were 149 rejected papers. Wonder why this is, have people still not got to grips with the voting system?
ReplyDeleteWell done to the successful candidate and also to all the others who put themselves up for election - not an easy task. Hopefully now that they've taken this step they won't all disappear into the ether but will continue to stay involved in local politics and issues.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised not more people put themselves up for local councillors, especially when you are getting paid nearly £25k for what is essentially a part time job! Mr Fuller should be given a fair crack of the whip, but I am too very concerned that local people are voting for a party rather than someone that will put the town first!
ReplyDeleteThe basic rate is around £14K I think Neil, chairs of committees etc get more.
ReplyDeleteApologies Gurn, Councillors salaries as of 2012/13, basic of £16234, but they do have there expenses on top of that.
ReplyDeleteI can remember the days of the old Burgh of Nairn Council when they were getting paid nothing, you then got the right people doing the job as they were doing it for the better of the town, I don't think you can really say that these days when they are getting paid silly money for not doing the best for the town
According to the H.C website here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.highland.gov.uk/info/772/politicians_elections_and_democracy/470/councillors_information/2
basic pay is £16,234 for 2012-2013
A lot of Community Councillors put in a fair bit of work too - love them or loathe them you get them free lol
ReplyDeleteMany people make comments and statements about Councillors and how useless or under employed they are but I'm sure that many of them work very hard and put in many more hours than we know about. They may not work conventional 9 to 5 but I'm sure they do more than part time. It's easy to sit at the sidelines and carp on about their positions but I really am fed up with all the people who spout about how they could do a better job - where were you all when the nominations were put forward? Not many of you put your money where your mouths were!
ReplyDeleteYou have to be stark raving mad to want to be a politician at any level. The very fact that someone puts themselves forward should immediately debar them !
ReplyDeleteAye, it's a pity "Mr Neil P" hadn't thrown his hat into the ring. I'm sure that he is so able that he could have done the job of 2 or perhaps 3 councillors - whilst still whistling Dixie.
ReplyDeleteSadly, we do not have "local" government Neil - the Tories and Labour Governments at Westminster in the 70s and 90s took that away from almost all of Scotland.
We have sub-national government - a geography the size of Wales or Belgium.
However, the political model is a huge improvement from some of the previous "so-called independent" led councils of the past. You see a manifesto beforehand - and you have a better idea of what a person's views are. They could be Tories who are happy to put charges up for all services, who would pay off folk who deliver front-line services, who would try to privatise etc etc.
Or perhaps you really believe that there are zero Tory councillors in Highland? LoL :-)as the youngsters say.
Nairn still lives with the legacies of less than great "independent councillor" decisions.
On a positive note, there are a growing number of folk who now admit that the 8 old District Councils should have remained and the old Highland Regional Council done away with. Many of us in the SNP support that view and IMHO it cannot come soon enough.
As for "anon" at 8.19pm - I have no doubts that young Stephen will do his absolute best for the Nairn - with no pressure of any kind from the SNP/Labour/LibDem leadership whatsoever.
Colin
Harsh Colin, I have been very vocal about certain Nairn Councillors of late and I am justified in doing so. I have never said that I could do a better job than any of them, we just want more transparency and for them to stop burying there heads in the sand. I think I would have little chance of being a councillor the main reason, I don't think anyone would vote for me lol, so I'll do the next best thing regardless of you liking it or not Colin and I will make sensible comments on social media regarding how our Councillors are representing our Town!
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Colin's comments about any councillor's membership of a mainstream political party indicating that they will be better suited to their role, or likely to make better decisions as a direct result.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone truly represent their constituents if party policy runs through them like a stick of rock.....Who do they serve. Party, or people?
Just because someone is a member of a political party gives them diiddly squat respect in my eyes , when it comes to them discharging their responsibilities as a Councillor....it's what they actually do that matters...but to say that being part of SNP, Labour or any other party makes them a 'better' councillor is a weak and poor argument.
Try applying the same debating principle to Nigel Farage.... did his membership of UKIP instantly afford him the status of being a 'better' potential MP?
Neil P has proved my point. He doesn't want to stand, ergo, he is an ideal candidate. Vote for Neil P.
ReplyDeleteSorry Neil P
ReplyDeleteI was tad harsh - and I'm sure that Stephen is well able to defend himself.
I believe that Stephen will work hard as a full-time Councillor for Nairn. That doesn't mean an ordinary 40 hour week - but it will mean some weeks are 60 or 80 hours and others will be 20.
It will mean trying to be available 24/7 and trying to get back to people asap - no matter whether you happen to be on holiday in Cawdor, Carcassone or Canterbury. The Council Blackberry is at your side! My Council payslip says that it is £9.10 per hour before tax etc - which is much more than many constituents receive. Pretty reasonable for the role IMHO.
There are politicians - like Sir Malcolm Rifkind - who clearly had "part-time" "unremunerated" jobs at Westminster - but I'm sure he will shortly be enobled and will suit well the ermine and the tax free £300/day -for signing in.
We do need better and more local democracy - and a Nairnshire Unitary Council would be ideal.
Until that time, with 80 (or soon to be 76 Highland Councillors) then I think it is not unreasonable for us to know what views folk have for the future of that huge organisation - as well as the Nairn issues.
I don't think that you should stop contributing to social media - and sensibly is the way to do so. :-)
Spurtle - Mmmm - I prefer "shaken" rather than "stirred". I didn't think that i made any of these specific assertions. Diddiley ........
Cordially
Colin
"As for "anon" at 8.19pm - I have no doubts that young Stephen will do his absolute best for the Nairn - with no pressure of any kind from the SNP/Labour/LibDem leadership whatsoever."
ReplyDeleteReally Colin? I see Maxine Smith is to replace Drew, one of her many duties was as The Party Whip. Can you please explain the role of the Party Whip?
Back from a few days away - pining for the daily fix of Gurn .....
ReplyDeleteAnon at 3.41 asks what a Party Whip is - - and methinks he/she thinks they know what a Party Whip does.
Maxine was my only experience of a Party Whip - and her job is very straightforward - to make sure that the Council is able to deliver on the programme it has agreed. That means on a few important occasions, the administration of SNP/Lab/Lib are able to outnumber the "Tory etc" opposition.
It meant Maxine had to make sure that we protected front-line services, that we restructured to lose a few senior managers, that Highland Council stopped years of centralisation etc etc.
It meant that I had to let Maxine know if I couldn't attend for some reason.
Things that had a direct impact on Nairn? Liz and I always ensured that we made the issue a free vote.
Colin