EDITORIAL COMMENT: The politics of confusion (From South Wales Argus)

EDITORIAL COMMENT: The politics of confusion

9:50am Wednesday 6th May 2009 in News By South Wales Argus

TORFAEN voters could be forgiven for being a little confused when it comes to knowing exactly what they voted for.

Independent councillor Tom Huish was one of those who agreed to form a political grouping with other independents to ensure they had a larger voice.

The group did attempt to wrest control from the ruling Labour Party but to no avail.

Now Councillor Huish has announced he is to quit that group so that he can, in his view, be truly independent. He says the increasing influence of party politics has left him feeling more and more frustrated by the whole system.

We can understand that.

Party politics seems to have infiltrated even a grouping which set out to be independent of the major parties.

The dominance of major political parties in any system can make politics very predictable. Party politicians tend, in the main, to toe the party line.

For many the rise in the number of independents elected locally was seen as welcome, particularly in those councils where the major parties had dominated.

We have all seen those councils where public debate was almost unheard of as the majority of decisions were made inside party groupings.

But the influx of independents, instead of refreshing the system, appears to be merely adding confusion.

Councillor Huish says his decision to leave the independent group of councillors was caused by the increasing hold of party politics.

The problem for Torfaen Council may be that the confusion in the short term may well lead to disenchantment among voters in the longer term.