I have one golden rule.

As a councillor people love to let rip at me and tell me how useless the council really is. After all, that’s what I’m here for: the local lightning rod for all pothole, parking and dog poo fury.

Of course there are hugely serious issues – from soaring council tax costs to the millions wasted by useless council leaders.

However, the crucial question I always ask is if said complainer voted in the last election and if they simply didn’t bother – or don’t see a point – then my sympathy for their plight is dialled down a notch.

If you don’t vote then you can’t really complain.

Of course as a responsible councillor it’s not always quite as cut and dry as that – but for those who might be apathetic about casting their ballot, I have a very personal example of why they absolutely need to.

When I was first elected it was by just nine votes. Nine votes! After an excruciating recount I was finally declared the councillor but it just goes to show that, even on a local level, getting out and making your voice heard is absolutely essential to the future of your area.

That is why Angela Rayner’s decision to cancel this opportunity for millions of people across the country has me seething. In a move worthy of notorious North Korean despot Kim Jong Un, she has taken this right away from a staggering 5.5 million people this year – and just weeks before polling day too.

Nine areas including Surrey, Norfolk, Suffolk and Thurrock will have elections postponed to allow for a reorganisation of local authorities.

Now, for once, the reason underpinning all this is actually a sensible one that I fully endorse. I have never understood the bizarre two-tier system that the UK has in place for many local authorities that have a town council and then a district council too.

The waste that results from this must be phenomenal as the two bodies no doubt daily get themselves in a muddle, constantly trying to work out who is responsible for what.

I can imagine that in the confusion almost nothing is achieved and millions are frittered away whilst the clueless councils double up on countless jobs.

But Rayner’s excuse for the delay to votes to achieve this reorganisation is suspect.

She said: “We’re not in the business of holding elections to bodies that won’t exist and where we don’t know what will replace them. This would be an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money.”

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Nigel Farage – whose party Reform UK looked set to prosper in the areas where voting will be delayed – is absolutely livid. He said that there is simply “no justification” for cancelling the elections other than the “cowardice of the existing political class”.

The answer to all this is breathtakingly simple. Hold the elections that, let’s remember, candidates will have worked hard to campaign for and time the introduction of the new unitary authority for when the new councillors’ four-year term is finished – or perhaps slightly sooner if needs must. Like Farage says, it will take three years at least for these changes to be made.

Yes, they are mostly Conservative councils but that doesn’t mean that the status quo wouldn’t have been rocked by Farage and they could get a strong new foothold, which would be entirely unhelpful for a clearly beleaguered Labour Party.

Surely there is a simple way to do this without robbing people of their right to vote and without costing unnecessary wonga?

Unless, of course, it simply suits Labour to kick the can down the road and save red faces all round. And with how things are going for Keir and co. right now, perhaps taking a leaf out of North Korea’s playbook is their only option.