This Thursday, voters in the English seaside town of Clacton go to the polls to elect an MP to represent them in Parliament. It’s a competition that’s sparked interest across the UK, Europe, the US and the wider world.
But I strongly believe Clacton deserves better than simply becoming a midsummer distraction. It’s an area with challenges and joys just like every other local community – and it’s much more than an arena for a political showdown.
And churches often know their areas better than many politicians and other community groups.
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of sitting MP Nigel Farage, the leader of political party Reform UK, that’s been winning in many local council seats across the country. He asked people in his constituency to decide his future following parliamentary scrutiny of his personal finances.
All the main political parties opted not to put forward candidates, so Nigel Farage finds himself in contention with a record 33 other candidates, many of them independents.
One of them, Count Binface, who campaigns with a dustbin over his head, has won media coverage across the world.
But this competition is no laughing matter.
Hard-pressed areas are often ignored between elections. It’s a truth that many churches know well and have been seeking to remedy for centuries. And it’s especially true in our 21st century world.
Voters across the country deserve candidates that are rooted in their communities. People who know their patch and are committed to working for their constituencies. Their focus should be on knowing their local area, and being single-mindedly committed to making it a better place for people to live and work in.
And – to underline that I’m not making a narrow political point – I feel the same way about the UK’s newly-installed Prime Minister Andy Burnham who was parachuted into a by-election in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, as a fast-track route into Downing Street.
In Clacton, local vicar, the Rev Matthew Simpkins told the Church Times, “The places I serve as parish priest are proud communities, worthy of respect and dignity, that need and deserve representatives and leaders who know and care for them.”
He added, “Perhaps the list of candidates seems hilarious viewed from elsewhere. However, those who truly care for this place, and its people, are not laughing.”
Long after the political and media circus has moved on from the seaside town, churches and other locally-based community groups will continue working to improve the daily lives of people in the area.
Churches can often bring a long history of commitment to a local area, and a deep knowledge of its needs.
There’s a lively debate going on within Anglican churches and others about the role of the local congregation. In the Church of England, a campaigning group called ‘Save the Parish’ has published a manifesto calling for greater emphasis and commitment to the local church.
They advocate, “Every parish needs to be supported to keep its doors open for prayer, rather than be deprived of the resources needed, and the church must fund frontline ministry to prevent further descent into a spiral of decline.”
The campaign was launched in the face of increasing numbers of church mergers and, say the movement’s leaders are “starving the local church of money” while resources are devoted elsewhere.
The ‘local’ matters – we learnt this during the pandemic, when we realised how much we were rooted to the area and community around us. It matters, where churches are actively seeking to reach out to their areas in service and love.
The local matters when we are seeking to preach the gospel in ways that are relevant to the people who live in the streets around our churches.
Politicians may come and go, but dedicated MPs can make a real difference to an area – and pay a high price. In October 2021, Sir David Amess, Conservative MP for another Essex seaside town, Southend West, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
In June 2016, Jo Cox, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, died after being shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Stephen Timms, Labour MP for East Ham, was stabbed in Beckton, east London, in May 2010.
Churches, unlike most MPs, stay throughout generations. Congregations are drawn from their local communities. They know what makes the area function and, often, what it would need to thrive.
Count Binface may be causing great hilarity around the country, perhaps around the world, but the people of Clacton – and every local community – deserve people and organisations who are committed to serving them for the long-term.
Churches across the country are playing their part in improving the lives of the people in their communities. Activities include advice centres, youth groups, toddler groups, older people’s ‘drop ins’, debt counselling, food banks, litter collection and numerous other projects.
Away from the headlines, in the small print of everyday life, churches are called to make life better for the people on their patch and are responding with energy and enthusiasm.
That grassroots support is vital – especially, when the political will and commitment seems sometimes to be lacking.
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, and a former communications director with the CofE.
