A place for party politics

There has been growing concern in certain sections of campus at the candidates running in last week’s Union Council the ‘Parliament’ of the Students’ Union Elections.

Some have pointed to a number of candidates from ‘campaign’ societies such as Warwick Labour who have run in the current elections. Andy Glyde, the Finance and Governance Officer of the Students’ Union in an interview, stated that while he welcomed greater participation in the Students’ Union from any students he believed that factions or parties would be ‘bad’ for Warwick.

Mr. Glyde was confident that the possibility of factions or blocks forming on Student Council was small noting the difficulty that parties have had in the past in getting Sabbatical Officers elected.

Last year, the President of the Warwick Conservatives made an unsuccessful bid to become Student President coming a distant third. The Warwick Labour Party which has five candidates running out of thirty members was quick to dampen any speculation around the matter. None of the candidates from Warwick Labour are running under a Labour ticket and while it is not unusual for people from political societies to run for Council, the number of candidates coupled with a council which will be smaller this year than last year has led some to express concerns.

In a statement to the Boar Co-President of Warwick Labour, Ben Nolan, said “each person is running under their own manifesto, and we do not intend to form any kind of ‘block’”. Nolan further supported the decision to stand taken by members of his Society, highlighting “You could be asking why members of the other political parties have not got members running, are they not interested in the running of their Union?” One of the key principles of re-founded Warwick Labour has been greater ‘interaction’ with the Students’ Union.

After the dismal turnout for the Annual General Meeting of the Students’ Union last week, there has been universal support for any people that wish to run for Council.

However, the potential possibility of a greatly reduced Council being taken over by members of political parties or ‘factions’ has caused students with an interest in student policies to worry that the ‘independent’ nature of Council may be under threat. The first meeting of Union Council will take place on Monday Week 4.