Poor Bob Neill. It must be hard enough being local government minister without being subject to attacks that he is a centrist disguised as a localist (‘Neil hits back at criticisms of Localism Bill’, PF, February 2011).
After all, hasn’t he clearly demonstrated his localist credentials by calling for pay cuts for local authority chief executives and making councils put their expenditure online? Far from being narrow-minded, populist measures designed to divert attention from the big issues, these will put power in the hands of the people.
Across the land, the public will be hunched over their monitors, comparing spending trends (taking account of year-end creditors, of course) and firing off letters to their local paper about waste of public money. That’s the stuff of localism, isn’t it?
Bob describes all criticism of him as ‘politically motivated’. Just a minute – he’s a politician too, isn’t he? So when he accused the Audit Commission of going horse racing when it was actually hiring conference facilities, was he politically motivated? I’m confused.
Meanwhile, libraries are being closed under pressure from spending cuts made by national politicians.
Local politicians have been doing their best to keep them open but all they get for their pains is a good kicking in the media from well-meaning authors and poets who don’t seem to realise where the real blame lies.
As ever, ministers shamelessly cast councils as the whipping boys.
A cross-party Local Government Association must stand up to these wolves in sheep’s clothing – politicians who made their name in local government and are now hell bent on destroying it under the guise of ‘localism’.
