Politics? We'd rather watch the football

The Express & Star survey of readers clearly demonstrates that as long as the bins are emptied every week, we'd rather carry on with our lives than get excited about the concerns and campaigns of local councillors and MPs.

And quite right too.

After all, councils should be dull, boring and reliable. We want them to perform a few basic functions and as long as they manage to do so at a reasonable price, we're satisfied.

Over the years, some local politicians have used their positions to strike a pose, grandstanding for some "higher cause" than the basic nuts and bolts of schools, bin collections and modest parking charges.

The Express & Star 'Your Say' survey, like last year's similar poll in the Shropshire Star, shows voters don't want political showbiz. We want the basics done properly.

And the surveys do show good levels of satisfaction with council services.

That helps to explain why voter turnout at local polls rarely crawls above about one-third of the electorate. Indifference is a perfectly reasonable reaction when the provider of our services is doing an adequate job at an adequate price.

That's not good news for politicians, of course. They like nothing better than being the centre of attention.

It will come as a huge disappointment to many of them to discover, for instance, that while 50.4 per cent of people think spending cuts have affected the quality of council services, the other half (49.6 per cent) say nothing's changed.

This is a huge blow for all those politicians, national and local, who have been campaigning against Government spending limits, warning of the dire consequences of depriving local authorities of more and more money.

The truth, which few politicians of any party are willing to acknowledge, is that councils have been over-spending like drunken sailors on shore leave for years.

That's why Wolverhampton Council can reduce spending by £30 million without half its population even noticing anything's happened.

Indeed, one of the unheralded successes of the Coalition Government, is forcing local councils to keep their spending under control.

With a few unfortunate exceptions, councils have limited local tax rises to around two per cent – still excessive, in my view – rather than let rip in defence of "services" no-one wants.

Suspicion of politicians is also shown in the survey's finding that a mere 15.6 per cent of people would like to see elected mayors.

The cynical view elected mayors are just another cosy, well-paid number for a few of the political class is borne out by the 57.3 per cent opposed to the whole idea.

Indifference to our political rulers can be seen even more clearly in some of the survey's other findings.

Most Express & Star readers (54.8 per cent) and one-third of the Shropshire Star's, have never had any contact with their councillor.

This represents a gulf between the political classes and their constituents which our representatives ought to be able to bridge.

It also shows that, for most people most of the time, the local councillor is of no relevance at all – something of a slap in the face for those men and women who pride themselves on being well-known locally.

Even more damningly, just over a third of Express & Star readers, 36.1 per cent, admit they don't even know the name of their local MP.

Admittedly the figure falls to 14.3 per cent in Shropshire but this is not a sign of ignorance on the part of the voters but of failure on the part of politicians.

They need to demonstrate their activities are of relevance and importance to our everyday lives.

Many people recognise that all the sound and fury at Westminster signifies next to nothing – especially when we know the majority of our Parliament's decisions depend on the approval and support of the European Union bureaucracy or the European Court of Human Rights' dubious multi-national panel of judges.

Many years ago, as a young reporter, I was earnestly quizzing Dick Knowles, then the Labour leader of Birmingham Council, when he pulled me up short.

"You have got to remember," he growled, waving his politically-incorrect cigar, "that most people are far more concerned about their local football team than they are about their local council. And they have got their priorities right."

Indifference is not the same as apathy or ignorance. Most people will sit up and take notice of what their elected representatives are doing in their name if they feel it necessary.

This is as it should be. We elect politicians to take care of the dull essentials so the rest of us can enjoy life.

Politicians pretend they are "public servants" but actually that's exactly what they are. Servants. They work for us; we pay their wages. It's good to remind them of the fact.

The leader of the council is not the local equivalent of Lord Grantham from Downton Abbey. He should remember his place. He's just Mr Carson, the butler.