Whitehall controls are harming democracy

1 May 08
Whitehall's 'mania' for control over councils has created a climate of confusion, waste and apathy at local level, according to an esteemed public policy academic.

02 May 2008

Whitehall's 'mania' for control over councils has created a climate of confusion, waste and apathy at local level, according to an esteemed public policy academic.

As this year's local election results emerged, George Jones, emeritus professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the need to reinvigorate local democracy had never been more apparent.

In a report for the Public Management and Policy Association, published on April 30, Jones said local government had been besieged from all sides over the past three decades: diminished from above by central government; from the side by quangos; and from below by unelected neighbourhood and community groups.

He reserved special criticism for major Whitehall delivery departments, accusing them of riding roughshod over local democracy.

'The departments for Children, Schools and Families; Health; Transport; the Home Office; and the Ministry of Justice tend to see local government as a mechanism to implement their wishes,' Jones said.

'When these departments claim that they support decentralisation it is usually not to elected local government but to their own arms or special-purpose institutions, for hospitals, education, policing, community safety, and social services. They do not trust local authorities to do what they think should be done,' he said.

The report calls for a new constitutional settlement, enshrining the role of local government in law and clarifying its relationship with central government. An independent commission should also be established to oversee the relationship between Whitehall and town halls and make regular reports to Parliament.

Jones said councils needed to be given powers to do things that mattered to local people and the power to raise finance locally.

'If these changes are made, then local politics will revive. People will be interested; they will want to have their say and to vote, and to become candidates. Local government and local politics will matter,' Jones said.

'The way ahead for strengthening local government, and local representative democracy, is not by keeping the centre in the driving seat.'

Commenting on the report, Local Government Association chair Sir Simon Milton said: 'Of all the major democracies and economies of the world, England is unique in the degree of central control exerted over public services and local government.

'This has wasted the public's money. It has sapped the energy, enterprise and innovation of frontline staff. It has denied local choice, and eroded local democracy itself.'

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokeswoman said: 'We have devolved unprecedented power to local authorities – giving them more control over their funding and new freedom to work towards specific local priorities.

'A new white paper to be published in summer 2008 will help to put more local communities in control.'

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