Lancaster student juggles local politics with her university workload

Since being elected to the University ward for Labour at last May’s local elections, third year Lancaster University student Erin has been learning to balance her sociology studies with helping to serve her community.

“When the result was declared at Lancaster Town Hall, I couldn’t stop crying for hours,” she said. “It was so emotional.

“But being a university councillor is pretty intense. You can’t just clock off. I speak to students and residents every single day, I see people every day. I don’t think people from any other demographic group could do it. I’m also studying myself. You have to achieve a work-life balance, you shouldn’t take on more than you can handle.”

Erin’s interest in politics began at an early age, growing up in Ashton, Greater Manchester, where Labour MP Angela Rayner, now Labour’s deputy leader, made a big impression.

“Ashton as a whole suffers from deprivation but it has a good community and nice people,” she said. “Growing up there, I didn’t feel like Ashton mattered on the bigger, world scale, but it means a lot to me in many ways.

“I joined the Labour Party in Ashton. Angela Rayner is the MP there. She’s a local woman and feels very down to earth. She visited our school while I was there and spoke to pupils. I felt she was really engaged with what we were thinking. I found it quite empowering. Angela Rayner never abandoned anything about herself or her background. That meant everything to us.

“My grandad, Philip Smith, was another influence. He still lives in Tameside. He’s inspiring and strong-minded, Catholic and Irish and very proud of that. He has a strong faith and was a massive part of my upbringing.

“I consider myself Catholic. It’s quite a big part of my identity. The principles have guided my politics. If you’re a Christian, if you’ve read the teachings of Jesus but you are not politically left wing then you need to look at those teachings again. Something has gone wrong in your translations.

“I go to church. I’ve got rosaries and I pray. Faith is part of my life and a great comfort. Being Christian and a socialist is the way to be for me.”

Lancaster University’s sociology department and the city’s closeness to Greater Manchester were important factors in Erin’s choice of further education.

“I always knew I wanted to study sociology,” she said. "I was really interested in it and especially gender topics. I learned Lancaster University has a really good centre for gender and women’s studies at a higher level, so I wanted to be taught by those people or be in a university associated with that work.

“I’m quite a home bird and wanted to study in Lancaster partly because I’d be able to get home quite easily, if I wanted. But I do love Lancaster. People come here and never want to leave. Everyone becomes an adopted Lancastrian because it’s such a good city.”

Growing up with left wing leanings meant Erin was drawn to the Labour Society at Lancaster University.

“Living under the present government has been a very bleak experience,” she said. “This scenario has been our entire experience. I think that’s why so many people of my generation got into left wing politics. Growing up in this country, you cannot avoid politics, I believe.

“When I came to Lancaster University, I joined the Labour Society. I met brilliant people like Fabiha Askari, who was then my councillor. She did a great job and has great values and principles.

“I became the Labour Society’s trade union and campaigns officer. That was the time of the strikes at universities. It was very important to be organised and have people on picket lines and showing solidarity. ”

Erin stepped forward to be considered a candidate for Lancaster City Council’s May 2023 elections after Fabiha suggested it would be good for current students to stand in the university ward. Fabiha’s time as a university student was coming towards an end.

Erin said: “That’s one of the many things I respect Fabiha for. I think that was the right thing to do, to have the university ward represented by current students.

"Fabiha has always been really supportive and encouraging of people. And I thought why not me? So I spoke to my family, friends and partner, asking their views. The consensus was yes. But I needed everyone around me to believe in me before I put myself forward for selection.”

Addressing violence, safety issues and other concerns faced by women and girls was a key part of Erin’s election manifesto.

Now she is involved in work to make Lancaster safer for all with a focus on its night-time scene.

She said: “I know night-time violence is an issue. My friends have experienced it and I’ve experienced it. I speak to residents about it. It’s difficult because we don’t really know how to fix it.

“It’s also frustrating sometimes with being a young woman and afraid of being out in the city after dark. It’s also frustrating having to justify concerns when other people ask for statistics? We know there are problems faced by women and girls around violent acts and other concerns.

“But recent funding has been secured from the Lancashire Police & Crime Commissioner around the Safer Streets project. This will have a special focus on Lancaster’s night-time economy. I want young people, especially women, to feel assured that the funding will be used with their priorities in mind, as there are feelings of distrust with the police on a national scale – not specific to Lancaster.

“I and Cat Smith [the Lancaster MP] want to make sure that Safer Streets funding is used as best as possible. We’re working on an survey about the public and the police, which is so needed. We want a wide variety of responses. It’ll be an online survey and anonymous.

Safer Streets aims to the make Lancaster’s night-time scene safer for everyone. I do love Lancaster, but that does not mean we should be complacent. We still need action to make the city safer and people feel safer. Our survey will help identify priorities in Lancaster.”

Overall, Erin says her time as a city councillor has veen a “very positive experience”.

“Becoming a Lancaster councillor has been a learning curve and like nothing I’ve done before,” she said.

“At times, I’ve felt that big, full council meetings are a bit alienating. Committee meetings are smaller, more informal and I feel I can speak more confidently. Being a young person from my background, I don’t consider myself the typical kind of person who wants to ‘go into politics’ – the well-educated stereotype.

"I feel I have to work much harder. I don’t know if that feeling comes from political environments I’m in or just thoughts from my own head? The self-doubting imposter syndrome feeling is massive for me.

“It’s an interesting council and there’s a feeling we are all in politics for good reasons – for the people and communities we represent. We may disagree on how we do it, but there are shared motives. Trust is important, but it can be hard to earn trust in politics because of the absolute mess with national politics.”