Shaun Wright is a prime example of why Labour needs more candidates with a life outside politics

What qualifies someone to become a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC)? According to Shaun Wright’s website, not a lot. Shaun had ‘experience as the Vice Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Authority, a magistrate, a school governor and a Trustee of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.’

Though hindsight is a fantastic thing, this appears dangerous. The above variety of roles seem to be jobs that Shaun was ‘elected’ to, rather than employed to do based on experience.

This begs the questions, were there really that few a decent candidates in the North to fulfil the role of PCC? Does no one in the Labour Party of South Yorkshire have an employment history that is based on actual experience working with people, rather than as a chair of this or a trustee of that?

By no means am I trying to attack Shaun Wright or the roles he undertook; I am sure they were very important. Rather, I feel it is significant to highlight the dire straights we seem to be in; that someone can be elected to public office as a PCC, when their knowledge and understanding of such crucial issues falling under their jurisdiction appears so limited.

This is not a Labour problem alone, and though many may welcome Shaun Wright’s resignation, I would like to see the list of candidates for the by-election before I pass judgment. Will Shaun’s replacement be any more the wiser on issues such as domestic and sexual violence? Will they have experience of being a police officer or of rehabilitating criminals or of advocating for victims?

This problem is not isolated to the election of PCCs but stretches to that of MPs and councillors also. I am not suggesting that to be elected to public office, the candidate needs to have the above exact experience to fulfil the role, but that some form of it should be a requirement. It should not be enough to have sat on a board, to have done a bit of campaigning here and there or to have been popular in your local branch to get elected to public office. There has to be more than that from Labour, or else this sort of thing will continue to happen.

I always say of the Tories, how could they possibly sympathise with people in poverty when so few of them have experienced it? So too I would argue that it is no better to put someone in a role to represent vulnerable people, when their only experience of doing so is in a political or elected position.

I want the next Labour candidate for the PCC election in South Yorkshire to be someone I can truly believe in. Someone who has worked hard, not just simply known the right person, or have been in the right place at the right time. I want them to have integrity, principles and a firm understanding of crime and its affect on victims in South Yorkshire. Someone who will inspire more than 14.5% of the population to get out and vote.

Susan is currently studying for a Masters in Social Work and she works for a domestic abuse charity in Sheffield