Jackie Weaver video

Jackie Weaver has starred in a video as part of a national Make A Change campaign aimed at encouraging a wider variety of people to become involved in parish and town councils . . . and lowering the average age of councillors.

Jackie became an internet sensation in February 2021. Her calm and decisive handling of a shouty male rant at a Handforth council zoom meeting saw her trending at No 1 as 20-minute highlights of stroppy councillors being put in their place were retweeted six million times.

The newly released video, shot in rural Yorkshire on behalf of the National Association of Local Councils, sees a sports car arriving in a town with Jackie in the driver's seat.

After parking up, Jackie makes her way throughout town, talking about the importance of everyone having a stake in their community and getting involved in their local council.

The national association's Make A Change campaign encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to get involved with their local council and consider putting themselves forward for election to help make the council more representative of the community.

Jackie, the Chief Officer of the Cheshire Association of Cheshire Councils, said: "Our local councils in the country exist and flourish thanks to the commitment of our 100,000-strong councillors upon whom we depend. You might call them the usual suspects.

"But, we have a problem. We have far too many vacant seats. We need to reach out to the unusual suspects."

Jackie has written an online article for the Local Government Chronicle putting the case for "councils which are representative of their communities not just councils that tick the boxes."

Link to LGC article: (may not work on all platforms!)

https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/governance-and-structure/jackie-weaver-councils-must-reach-out-to-the-unusual-suspects-28-03-2022/