Davy Jones Consultancy

So the Tories have finally issued their long-awaited Green Paper on local government.

As they might form the next Government, and already control the majority of English councils their views are very important.

There are some amusing, and breathtakingly cheeky, elements in the Green Paper: the claim that the highly centralised Government approach to local government is a New Labour phenomenon. Er, I think not!

The Tory record on localism
The Tories have short memories. After all, they set up the Audit Commission, introduced the much-derided local government performance indicators, took business rates away from local government control, abolished the GLC, and passed annual legislation stripping local councils of many powers. Their record historically is every bit as centralist as New Labour. The proposal in their Green Paper to force the twelve biggest English cities to have referenda on installing a mayor (in the name of "localism") proves that "old habits die hard".

General power of competence
There is however one important proposal in the Green Paper that we should welcome: giving councils "the power of general competence". That would mean that councils could do anything they wanted unless specific legislation said they couldn't. Historically, the position has been the reverse: councils are only able to do things that specific legislation says they can do. The 2000 Local Government Act gave councils the power to promote the social, economic and environmental well-being of their communities. This was supposed to free up councils, but in reality it hasn't worked. The general power of competence is a good idea and should be welcomed.

Council tax referenda
There is not much else in the Green Paper to get excited about .. and much to abhor. The crass proposal to introduce referenda on proposed council tax rises (as an alternative to "capping") is a re-run of an old Michael Heseltine idea. No prizes for guessing which way people will vote - "All those in favour of paying more council tax, all those against" - on the basis of a simple referendum with no discussion. It will of course have exactly the same effect as "capping". It is a one-dimensional alternative to the proposal that local citizens should be actively engaged in debate on local priorities and finances through participatory budgeting.

Substance or rhetoric?
Other proposals include giving citizens the right to organise local referenda, devolving unlimited budgets to local councillors and electing local police commissioners (rightly discarded recently by the Government as potentially divisive). There is little new or exciting in the Green Paper despite the localist rhetoric. And can we realistically trust the previous arch-centralisers to have changed their spots?