What were you doing at 25? Moving out, starting a first, maybe second job? It’s highly unlikely you did what Sam East did and became a city councillor.
The Oxford graduate has represented the Warbreck ward for Labour since securing the position in a tightly fought by-election in April. Cllr East, 25, who grew up in a political household in Orrell Park, said he recognised taking the path to Liverpool Town Hall isn’t a regular beat for those under 30.
He said: “It’s not the done thing, I think being a young councillor a lot people think your friends are councillors of the median age, shall we say. All my mates are 25, launching their own careers, but the idea of being a councillor is alien to them.
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“My generation has more reason than any I can think of to be political, we’ve had awakenings throughout our life. My first political memory at 11 years old was Tony Blair leaving office and I come from a family that isn’t hyper political but a Liverpool Labour family.
“It was solidly left wing, we didn’t sit around discussing theory, but my grandad was a solid union man. I had the sense in 2010 that the sun wasn’t going to rise again as the Tories got into power, I was really affected by the emotion of it and the political awakening came when the realisation after the coalition government came in that my generation was going to suffer.
“My politics were solidly Labour since I had any sense of what politics was and I joined at university. You could put me broadly in with the throng of members that came in during the Corbyn era.”
Cllr East, who works full time, said the move into a political role of his own developed organically and despite having less miles on the body clock than some of his colleagues, was keen to take on the challenge in his home ward. He said: “I would never have stood for council anywhere else other than Warbreck.
“I’ve lived in Orrell Park all my life, I went to Rice Lane school, I use the same services my community uses, I volunteer in my community and did so long before it occurred to me to stand for council. When Cheryl Didsbury stood down, people looked around the members and asked if I would considered it. It was quite an honour and I had support from friends and family outside of the party.
“That’s the point of being a young councillor, I’ve been so bowled over about how little residents care about how old I am. Some might go ‘oh, you’re young aren’t you?’ but by and large they don’t care, they care about whether they get a response to an email or am I going to help them with bins, filling the potholes, putting in a bid for funding.
“There’s been a lot to learn. Things like committee structures and officer structures to work out who can help me with an issue I want to raise. The one thing I push back on is being in it for the money, for a career, it’s demolished any pretence I had of a real social life, I don’t regret it but it’s a stressful thing for anyone to do.”
April’s election was a close-run thing for the new Labour member. Labour came within 38 votes of losing the seat to the Liberal Democrats, a margin of just 2%. Cllr East will have completed a little more than a year in post when he is up for election again as part of next May’s all-out elections for Liverpool Council.
He said a second poll was a challenge he was looking forward to. He said: “I did enjoy the campaign, I lost about a stone which was nice, but nothing beats talking to people and saying I want you to give me your vote.
“I really enjoyed it and the Liberal Democrats threw everything at the seat and had a good local candidate who was very pleasant. People forget Labour has been in power here for more than a decade and the party that runs the city deserves a reminder every so often.
“Voters vote for people who deliver for them. If it was felt in the by-election there was an opportunity to pass some judgement on recent events, then I think no harm done. It’s important for the party to take stock and get a wake-up call from time to time. I don’t see myself as a community leader, I see myself as an advocate.
“I work full time, I don’t run a big community organisation or anything like that, but I will support them.”
Despite the long hours and learning curves, Cllr East said he would “absolutely” recommend becoming a local authority representative to young people and wasn’t something he regretted. He said: “It’s an awesome responsibility that gets put on you and I suppose that’s one of the reasons people wonder if young people are up for it, but young people are members and service users of their community just like anyone else.
“The bits I really enjoy don’t happen in the chamber, they’re when a resident contacts me and I can fix it. That’s happened a number of times, including people who didn’t vote for me, that’s the big reminder of why we’re there.
“The satisfaction I get is from speaking to residents and telling them how I can help them. My prevailing objective is hopefully to be re-elected.
“My ward is full of people who hold us to account and a year isn’t a long time to make a mark. It’s been really frantic and I want to be able to go to residents in May and be brutally honest with them and say ‘you barely elected me this time, these are the pledges I made to you, but here’s what I’ve done since. Here’s what I’d like to do with a four year term.’
“We serve at the pleasure of our residents and if they elect me, that’s their prerogative.”
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