RESEARCH
Ricketts, Steven (1980-)
Biography
- Born 1980
- Plymouth City Councillor
- Conservative Party
Steven Ricketts was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire. One of our younger interviewees, he is currently Councillor for Drake Ward and Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport on Plymouth City Council.
Although his family supported the Labour Party, Cllr Ricketts found an affiliation with Conservative principles in his early youth. Between 1997 and 2005 he studied for an undergraduate, then a postgraduate, degree at Plymouth University. During this period he was elected as President of the Student Union, and became actively involved in politics, working on campaigns with the Conservative Party to improve sports facilities in the city. In 2006 he returned to Plymouth and ran for election in Drake Ward, which encompasses the University Campus and city centre districts
Transcript of clip
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So in 2005, when I was President of the Student Union, I met Oliver Colvile who was the parliamentary candidate then, and we ended up doing some campaigns together about improving sports facilities in the city, and that’s really when I started getting into party politics. I moved away from the city for six months to work in East London helping long-term unemployed people into work. The local elections were coming up in 2006, so the Conservative Party, the Association locally, gave me a call, said ‘look do you want to come back and run in these local elections? You know, it’s the University area, you know the area.’ I thought yeah why not? I came back to Plymouth just to run in the election, um – and I won the election. So I was elected in 2006, re-elected in 2010, re-elected again last month for the third time. But I thought if I can work in East London in this new environment and achieve things there, basically I had a map in East London of helping long-term unemployed people into work, and I had to basically find out peoples’ benefits, it was a lot of street work, door to door, and I managed to get them into the office. So I thought if I could use the same principle, street to street, in this area, which could be easier considering I was working in a Bengali population, I was doing pretty well for a middle class white guy, I’ll just apply that principle, and come back to Plymouth, work hard and get people to go and vote for me if they like me. And that’s what I did and I got the win. […] If you’re in a small area like this personality is very important, if you’re in one of the bigger areas if the city it’s so big it is very hard to get your personality across, so there are those differences. So if your party isn’t doing so well it’s difficult to fight back if your constituency is huge, ‘cus you just can’t meet all the people to get your point across where here you can. So if you look at results here it is personality driven actually, rather than the party…because the students are a big population but they’re a disengaged population, if you strip that all away, it’s actually a very small group of people you need to speak to, if they think you’re okay, you’re alright.
Interview Summary
Date of recording: 11/6/2014
Name of interviewer: Kayleigh Milden
[00.00] Interviewer introduces Steven Ricketts (SR): Councillor (Conservative) for Plymouth Drake 2006 to present, and Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport on Plymouth City Council. SR born in Portsmouth in 1980. SR first came to Plymouth in 1998 to study at Plymouth University. [1:00] Description of SR’s higher education and presidency of the student union; during this time he met Oliver Colvile (current MP for Plymouth Sutton & Devonport), who he campaigned with to improve sports facilities in the City. In 2006 his was approached by the local Conservative Association and asked to stand for election in Drake Ward. [2:50] Family background and politics. His parents supported the Labour Party, but when growing up SR developed his own political views and found himself agreeing with Conservative policies. Description of why he supports Conservative Party values. [6:10] Earliest political memory: watching TV with his parents, who supported Neil Kinnock and couldn’t understand who people didn’t like him. Also remembers debate at his school; ‘John Major Vs John Redwood,’ ‘back me or sack me’ episode. [9:10] Description of his role as Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport. [11:15] Describes his role as Student Union President as being the initial spark that got him actively involved in politics. [12:00] SR previously worked in east London trying to get long-term unemployed back into work, included a lot of ‘door to door work’; SR comments that he applied the same principle for his campaign to become councillor for Drake Ward. [13:50] Description of composition of Drake Ward and issues that concern residents. Biggest challenge in the Ward is planning applications. [18:30] SR comments that in his experience planning issues are the biggest motivation to community engagement in politics. [19:25] SR does not hold ward surgeries anymore, finds is more productive to contact people individually on an ad hoc basis. Brief discussion about impact of social media. [21:50] Discussion on memorable general elections: 1997, SR voted for the first time; 2010, his re-election. Comments that he has been disappointed by current coalition government, thinks it’s best to have one party in control that can be held to account. [24:25] Discussion about relationship between Devon and Westminster. [26:25] Discussion about SR’s experience of electioneering. Comments that Drake is ‘personality driven’ as a very small Ward so people get to know you; the students are a big population, but a ‘disengaged population.’ [29:25] Discussion about peoples’ response to him/Conservative Party when canvassing door to door. [33:00] Political idols; Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, Boris Johnson. [37:45] Discussion about religion and politics; need for Britain to retain its Christian identity. [41:40] Biggest achievement of political service to date is always standing up for issues regarding planning in his Ward.
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Listen to Steven Ricketts talk about his work as Councillor for Drake Ward since 2006.