As followers of Public Finance know, politics is an endlessly fascinating and entertaining business. Just occasionally, however, it does have a tendency to veer self-destructively into the territory of ‘a plague on all their houses’.
That’s precisely where we seem to be going in the current debates about local government spending. In a hole and digging furiously.
The blame game between local and central government seems to have started with a vengeance. The only certainty is that the great British public will not be at all impressed by the increasingly unedifying Punch & Judy exchanges.
Ministers cannot possibly sustain a position which seems to argue that there is no need whatsoever for any cuts to front-line services. No doubt I will be corrected that no spokesperson has ever uttered those words. But that has been the clear implication and tone of much that has been said and written over recent weeks.
Similarly, local leaders must face up to the fallibility of their position. Many have been far too ready to set up camp in the comfort zone of ‘don’t blame me, blame the government’.
Of course, it is tempting to dissect the rights and wrongs of these arguments. Even more interesting are the historical precedents – the sense of 1980s déjà vu is terrifyingly palpable. But to do so misses the critical issue: this is a dialogue in which there are absolutely no winners.
Conspiracy theories are usually misplaced. There are good people on both sides of this divide who accept the need for significant funding reductions to deal with the deficit and restore the public finances. More fundamentally, we all share a common purpose in wanting to deliver the best possible outcomes for local people within the constrained resources available.
But to deliver that kind of result we need local government at its very best, supported and enabled by the centre. Somehow we have to suspend politics-as-usual and summon up a collective determination that is truly focused on the public interest.
Steve Freer is the chief executive of CIPFA
