One-party councils less efficient, ERS finds

5 Oct 15

Councils dominated by one political party achieve lower procurement savings than more competitive authorities, with the difference as much as £2.6bn a year, according to an Electoral Reform Society analysis of local government accountability.

The group’s examination of the impact of councils with weak electoral accountability – defined as one party controlled more than two-thirds of seats or where 10% of the local council seats were only contested by one party – also found a possible higher risk of corruption.

The Cost of One-Party Councils report by Cambridge academic Mihály Fazekas examined over 132,000 public procurement contracts between 2009 and 2013 for councils in England outside London. The examination found that “one-party councils” typically achieve lower price savings in these deals – 2.2% compared to 6.2% where there is greater political balance.

In addition, ‘red flags’ for corruption – such as where only a single bid is submitted or there is a shortened length of time between advertising the bid and the submission deadline – were around 50% higher.

The report is the first time that this data has been used to analyse the potential risk due to lack of scrutiny or accountability, ERS chief executive Katie Ghose stated.

Where single parties have almost complete control of councils, scrutiny and accountability tend to suffer, she highlighted.

“It’s not true of all one-party councils, but it’s bound to be true of some – and this new research suggests that lack of scrutiny could be costing us dear.

“The fact that taxpayers in England could be losing out on £2.6bn a year in potential savings is a damning indictment of an electoral system that gives huge artificial majorities to parties and undermines scrutiny. This kind of waste would be unjustifiable at the best of times, let alone during a period of austerity.

“The risk of corruption at the local level should set off alarm bells in Whitehall. The public are getting a poor deal through our voting system.”

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