The Localism Bill sees its second reading in the Commons today. This is the ‘big picture’ stage of the process; the chance for MPs to debate the main principles of a bill, leaving the nitty-gritty of debating each clause until the committee stage.
The Bill’s ‘big picture’ is pretty clear, namely to devolve power away from the centre down to local government, individuals and communities. It seeks to legislate for the localist philosophy that the coalition government feels is at the heart of its approach to transforming public services. Indeed, how often do you see a bill with a doctrinal ‘ism’ in its name?
However, it is precisely in the nitty-gritty that this Bill could lose its way. Rushed out before Christmas after several false starts, this bill of over 400 pages and 200 clauses will need some serious scrutiny during its passage. There are three ways in which I fear the reality will struggle to catch up with those lofty principles.
The first is in the broader context of what is happening to local government outside of the legislative arena. While with one hand the Bill seeks to empower local government with moves such as a general power of competence, the Bill cannot be viewed in isolation as growing anger resonates around the sector about the impact of the financial settlement. There is nothing in this Bill which will ease the difficult decisions that will need to be made over cuts to local services, or to support transformational efficiencies. Particularly when the local government finance review, which could actually give local government greater flexibility, is not due until later in the year, and there are some measures such as local referendums which will actually add financial burdens.
The second is the natural gravitational pull of power towards the centre. This Bill still contains over 140 order and regulation-making powers – is this truly devolutionary? And furthermore, some ostensibly localist clauses will actually draw more power back to the secretary of state. For example, as the Bill stands, Eric Pickles will have the power to determine what constitutes a ‘local issue’ for a referendum, powers over when to trigger council tax referendums and, ironically, severely limiting powers over the General Power of Competence.
The final point is the extent to which this Bill will embed localist principles across the broader public sector. This Bill only covers policy within CLG’s remit, such as planning and housing, and does nothing to integrate localism across the rest of our public services. There are seemingly parallel reform programmes taking place in Health, DWP and Education, for example, which do not have localist principles at their heart. Indeed some actually undermine the role of local government. NLGN will be putting forward a potential amendment that would see some of the new rights such as the community right to challenge (which we welcome) opened up to all areas of government policy, not just local government. If you are serious about devolving power over services to local communities and citizens, then this should apply to all public services, not just those currently run by local government.
So in summary, the principles of the Localism Bill to be debated today are welcome, but there is a long way to go if the government seeks a truly radical devolution of power rather than simply an expression of philosophical principles. The legislative process must be only one part of this journey.
Anna Turley is deputy director of the New Local Government Network
