Departing city Tory leader calls for 'conversation' about politicians

The former Conservative leader of Southampton City Council believes there needs to be a discussion about what people want from their politicians.

Daniel Fitzhenry’s 16-year stint as a councillor came to an end on Thursday.

Mr Fitzhenry had represented the Harefield ward continuously since 2008.

He took the decision not to seek re-election in last week’s polls.

In doing so, he stepped down as leader of the Tory group on the local authority.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the count on Friday, Mr Fitzhenry said the role of a councillor was now completely different as social media had changed the way residents interacted with politicians.

“I do think we need to as a country have a bit conversation about what we do want from our politicians for all political parties,” Mr Fitzhenry said.

“All these people give up their time for a small allowance and reward, which is fine, but there comes a point where if you have got a family and other commitments it is difficult to juggle all of those things.

“It has probably always been difficult to juggle them but in the new world, what do want our politicians to be doing and how do we do that effectively is probably a good conversation for the UK to have, both in a local and national context.”

He said recent years had seen the number of meetings and events decrease, with Covid changing the way people operate with virtual calls.

Mr Fitzhenry, who led the council from May 2021 to May 2022, said Southampton is a “fantastic city with so many components, capable of doing so much more than who we are as individuals”.

He said: “What I would say about the future is we are entering a period where money is tight, it’s always been tight but it’s tight in a different way this time. The Covid pandemic meant we had to spend a lot of money we didn’t have and now we have got to live with that.

“How local government operates, it has to be efficient to deliver services and it is a business running things and delivering things day in, day out, albeit slightly different to how you run a commercial company.”

Mr Fitzhenry said going forward the council needed to be more effective and focused on what it should be doing and what it was good at.

He referenced roads, potholes, payments, keeping council tax low, keeping streets clean and keeping street lights turned on.

The former councillor said he would not rule out a return to standing as a councillor in the future but for the time being, he was looking forward to having more freedom and exploring new opportunities.