{"id":10179,"date":"2024-09-04T12:10:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T11:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/?page_id=10179"},"modified":"2024-10-01T16:30:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T15:30:14","slug":"do-i-need-to-join-a-political-party","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/beacouncillor\/who-can-be-a-councillor\/do-i-need-to-join-a-political-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I need to join a political party?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>No, you can stand as an Independent candidate or join a political party.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Standing for a political party<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re keen on joining a political party, start by getting involved locally. Attend meetings and chat with fellow party members. Remember, each party has its own ideologies. So find one that resonates with your values and vision.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many parties have a local website, through which you can get information about how they operate in your area. The parties currently represented on the County Council, along with their national websites, are:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.conservatives.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Conservative Party<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenparty.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Green Party<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.labour.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Labour Party<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.libdems.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Liberal Democrats<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Standing as an Independent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you plan to stand as an Independent councillor, you\u2019ll need to start becoming aware of issues in your local area; what your local council is doing about these issues; and how your own opinion differs from the political parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And remember, being Independent doesn\u2019t mean being isolated. There is a wide network and range of support offered to Independent councillors via the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local.gov.uk\/political\/lga-independent-group\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Local Government Association Independent Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Next steps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Still have questions? Join one of our free information sessions online or in person, download our printable information guide or, if you\u2019re ready to take the next step, learn more about the nomination process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top ctacolumns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top ctacolumn is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:24.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2024\/09\/image-56-1.svg\" alt=\"information icon\" class=\"wp-image-10781\" style=\"width:45px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:82.66%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left ctatext\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/beacouncillor\/information-sessions\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"10935\">Join an information<\/a><br><a href=\"#\">session<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top ctacolumn is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:24.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2024\/09\/image-59-2.svg\" alt=\"information icon\" style=\"width:45px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:82.66%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left ctatext\"><a href=\"https:\/\/devoncc.sharepoint.com\/:b:\/s\/PublicDocs\/Democracy\/EXwS-M4Fr0RJmb5JYupJ-5sBSdUs9lYUlnzG4OLKchCoiw?e=yXnjSU\" rel=\"noopener\">Print an information<br>guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top ctacolumn is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:24.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2024\/09\/image-58-1.svg\" alt=\"information icon\" style=\"width:45px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:82.66%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left ctatext\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/beacouncillor\/the-nomination-process\/\">The nomination<\/a><br><a href=\"#\">process<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No, you can stand as an Independent candidate or join a political party.&nbsp; Standing for a political party If you\u2019re keen on joining a political party, start by getting involved locally. Attend meetings and chat with fellow party members. Remember, each party has its own ideologies. So find one that resonates with your values and&hellip;<\/p>\n <span class=\"orange text-excerpt\">&gt;<\/span>","protected":false},"author":748,"featured_media":0,"parent":10088,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-10179","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 17:22:27","action":"Draft","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/748"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11244,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10179\/revisions\/11244"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}