13 May 2005
Labour must make strenuous efforts during its third term in office to deliver a much better return on the extra billions of pounds being invested in public services, Local Government Association chair Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart has told Public Finance.
Speaking after a three-hour meeting on May 10 with the new Cabinet minister for communities and local government, David Miliband, Bruce-Lockhart said that too often the money was not used efficiently to ensure that it resulted in improved services.
He called on ministers to make it their key priority in the next Parliament.
He urged the government to adopt as its other main objective the strengthening of local democracy, by placing councils at the heart of the provision of local services.
If these two priorities could be achieved, he said, they would help to restore public trust in politicians, which the general election campaign had shown was sadly lacking.
'The public showed it was not hugely impressed with any of the parties. An equal partnership between central and local government that empowers communities and improves public services will help overcome that,' Bruce-Lockhart told PF.
Whitehall's big spending departments would have to sign up to the agenda for it to succeed, he added, and vowed to press home the point when he meets many new ministers for the first time at a Central-Local Partnership meeting on May 18.
But he signalled his optimism that the government was in listening mode, hailing Miliband's promotion to a new Cabinet position as an 'historic opportunity'.
Bruce-Lockhart said the decision to have a minister with specific responsibility for town halls at the top table was a chance to deliver a real return of power to local communities.
'It is a good signal that on his second day in office David Miliband took a morning out to come and talk to us,' he said. 'The LGA has known him from his education role and we're looking forward to working closely with him.'
Miliband, who has come from the Cabinet Office, will have to get to grips with complex and politically sensitive issues, such as the ten-year plan for local government and the expected overhaul of the finance regime.
In addition, he will be expected to work closely with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on the government's ambitious sustainable communities agenda.
Following the meeting with Bruce-Lockhart, Miliband said he shared the LGA's desire to forge a strong partnership between Whitehall and town halls.
'Central and local government need to work with each other and not talk at each other. We will not always agree on everything but it's important we understand and listen to each other,' he said.
PFmay2005
