Standing for parliament, exposing the excesses of a university boss, exempting care leavers from council tax and badgers from cull - all in a four-year term before turning 28.

But now this councillor has decided to pack it all in.

Joe Rayment, the youngest councillor on Bath and North East Somerset Council, announces today that he won't seek re-election in May's local elections.

As representative for Twerton ward, he is Labour's only councillor in the city of Bath (and its first in 20 years).

He ran for Bath's seat in the House of Commons in the snap general election of 2017, finishing third with 7,275 votes.

His Freedom of Information request to the University of Bath uncovered the £20,000 expenses that its former vice-chancellor claimed at her university-provided luxury flat, and he was a vocal critic of Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell in the months before her resignation.

In a lengthy interview with Bath Live, Mr Rayment outlines why he's not running for B&NES Council again, the difficulties of being a councillor and working full-time, his proudest achievements and tips for others.

Pressures of the role

Mr Rayment, deputy group leader of the Labour Party on the council, admits the burden of responsibility can weigh heavy.

He has spoken across a broad spectrum of issues, and has no regrets at having done so.

He said: "There's been an expectation that I will be the voice of my party on all the issues in Bath.

"That was as much the case the two years before I stood for parliament as it has been since then.

"While I would hate to put anyone off standing for council who's young and in work, because we're a demographic who are disgustingly underrepresented on the council, I have to be honest about the fact that it's not easy, especially if you are someone who wants to actually achieve things [in politics], and have things that you can point to and say 'I did that'.

"I could have sat back and did not very much and just turned up to council meetings and voted the right way and gone to committees and not really said anything, but I have, apart from the one full council meeting that I couldn't be at.

"I spoke at every full council meeting since I was elected.

"I've probably proposed more motions than any other councillor over the last four years.

"I'm very proud of what I've achieved, but the impact of that is that I've had not as much of a social life as I would want, I've been a lot more tired than I want to be."

Best achievements

(Image: Artur Lesniak)

Mr Rayment lists five. In his words:

Before his election to the council in 2015, Mr Rayment said he attended a meeting about what campaigning could be done to improve the lives of refugees from war-torn Syria.

His motion was passed in only the second full council meeting of the current administration.

It led to the council joining the government Syrian vulnerable person resettlement programme and, thanks to the volunteer work of charities including Bath Welcomes Refugees, resettle a number of high-need refugee families in the Bath area.

Tips for future councillors

Exploring what is happening in other local authorities and beyond is one tip he offers to aspiring politicians.

He said: "Don't assume to know how other people will vote on things that might seem they can never get through.

"Look around to what other councils are doing, what other countries are doing and get ideas from them and if you notice patterns in your casework, find out what the underlying structural problem is and attack that.

"That's how I came across the Beechen Cliff admissions [issue]."

Councillors shouldn't assume they have a seat for life - and to do otherwise is arrogance.

"If you get elected the maximum you should assume that you will do is one term because you could be turfed out at the next election," he said.

"Anyone who claims that they know that they're going to get re-elected is too arrogant for their own good."

Young people and politics

He has often used his platform to highlight the economic difficulties the Millennial generation faces.

B&NES Council needs to better represent "the people whose lives are less stable, who are in a precarious position renting from a landlord who could put up rent up at any minute, who are one pay cheque away from homelessness. The people who are going to have to look elsewhere for jobs or somewhere they can afford to live.

"They're just as much a part of our community as someone who has a house and kids and dogs and an extra car that they don't need - and they need to be properly represented."

At times in the council chamber, older politicians have used Mr Rayment's relative youth as a stick to beat him with.

"There are people on the council that I'm friendly with, where we might make jokes where everyone knows it's a joke and not a political point.

"But on occasions people have tried to use my age to imply naivety and I think that's unacceptable.

"I'm old enough to have done two-and-a-half terms as a councillor and I don't just think there should be more people of my age on the council, I absolutely shouldn't be the youngest councillor at my age. I'm not that young."

Economic hardship

More sinister a threat in the UK is the rise in hate crime.

Race-hate crimes recorded by Avon and Somerset police increased from 2,071 in 2016/17 to 2,357 in 2017/18.

While there are activists and politicians who "want to push racist, fascist ideas in politics; who are ideologically racist", Mr Rayment said similar sentiments among residents are fuelled by economic factors.

"The majority of people you speak to who express opinions that are racist or xenophobic are able to be convinced that those ideas are not right and these feelings come from a place of economic hardship," he said.

"So if you point out to them that their economic disadvantage is not the fault of people from another country - it's in fact the fault of capitalists - then they will often see that point and realise that Nigel Farage is not the answer to the problems which Conservative and Liberals have caused them, and in fact democratic socialism is the answer."

Reason for departure

There's no certainty he will remain a city resident between 2019-2023.

Asked why he's leaving the political scene in Bath, he merely said: "Because I can't guarantee that I will remain in Bath for the next four years.

"I don't think it will be right to stand for re-election knowing that.

"It's by no means impossible to be a councillor who's also in full-time work, but it's hard, especially given I've been the only Labour councillor in the city of Bath."

Faults with the council

(Image: Artur Lesniak/ Trinity Mirror)

"There are too many meetings held during the day," he said.

"It's good that full council meetings aren't held during the working day and I've been lucky to be on a committee (the Resources Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel) that meets at 4.30pm so I only need to leave work 45 minutes early.

"But that's only because I work right in the centre of town.

"There will be no impetus for that change to happen until there are more young people on the council and more people who are working."

Mr Rayment works at the Milsom Street-based charity Developing Health and Independence.

Growing up he lived in Gravesend in Kent with his mum, before studying physics at Royal Holloway, University of London.

He moved to Bath to take up a job in student funding at the University of Bath.

He said: "Politics is about priorities.

"There's never going to be enough for everything you want to do, so you have to set out what your priorities are and these are guided by your values.

"You realise as a councillor how limited the powers of your council are.

"There's been a lot of talk about localism and devolving power, but councils have incredibly limited powers to solve the problems that affect residents and that's made harder by Tory and Lib Dem cuts to local government budgets since 2010. We see the impacts of that daily."

Predictions for 2019 elections

The Conservatives have a majority on B&NES Council, with 36 out of 65 councillors.

Despite by-election wins, the Liberal Democrats are the second strongest party with less than half that number.

There are five Labour, five independent councillors, one Green Party member and one Labour and Co-operative Party representative.

Asked what he sees happening come the elections on May 2, Mr Rayment said: "I predict that it will be a hung council.

"It's in that circumstance that we can get some Labour policies properly enacted.

"We can build alliances to make sure that we can get some of our ideas put into practice so that we can help rebuild our area for the many, not the few."

(Image: paulgillisphoto.com)

He added: "I know that there are other councillors who are disappointed that I won't be on the council after May.

"But most people won't care. Most people will never have heard of me. I'm a backbench councillor.

"Hopefully people in Twerton know who I am but if people in the rest of Bath do that's a bonus."

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