Public Affairs - Councils

First of all, contrary to my belief, MP’s don’t control the council. Neither do they have any control over the courts, though I didn’t think they did. All MPs do is represent their constituency in Parliament. That's literally it. Well, perhaps not quite literally, but if you had to give the job a four word description “represent constituency in Parliament” would be it.

The council (and therefore not the MPs) control the budget for the area and have all the power. It also has a hierarchy; from most powerful to least, it goes:

County Council

District Council

Parish Council/Town Forum

Large cities, however, often have a Unitary Authority which, essentially, is all of these merged into one.

This table demonstrates the differences in power for local councils:

Hampshire County Council (HCC)	Winchester City Council (WCC)
Turnover £1.8 billion	Turnover £12.5 million
Responsible for: 500,000 homes, Education (170,000 pupils and 10,000 teachers), 53 libraries, 8 County Parks	Bins, leisure, parking, environmental health.

Councillors, much like MPs, are voted for. The area that votes for them is called a ward (for MPs it’s a constituency).

When reporting on Council meetings, you do have qualified privilege but it is subject to explanation or contradiction. This means that you must ask people involved for their stance and give them the opportunity to deny any allegations made against them. This must be included in your story.