Bring back proper local government
Because the three party leaders panicked in the last week of
the referendum and promised the Scottish parliament more powers, everyone is
saying something must be done about England.
Some want only English MPs allowed to vote on laws that affect only England. Others want an English parliament. And some want regional government.
There is something to be said for all of these ideas, though
English votes on English law would make little difference in practice. And,
while I like the idea of an English parliament meeting in York or Manchester
rather than Westminster, I doubt people would want to pay for a whole new level
of government.
The same goes for regional assemblies, and they have another
problem. If you want to start a pub argument, ask people where the boundaries
of the East Midlands are and which city should be its capital and home to its
regional assembly. (We both know the answer is not Nottingham, but you try
convincing them of that.)
But the problem with the government of England goes deeper
than any of these proposals allow. The real problem is the decline of local
government that has been going on for decades.
The Labour government of 1945 is remembered for
nationalising privately owned industries like coal, steel and the railways. But
it also nationalised many services that had been run by local councils: water,
gas, electricity and health.
In those days a city like Leicester also ran its own buses
and trams. Now even schools have effectively been nationalised. Central
government sets the curriculum and, if the secretary of state is Michael Gove,
tries to tell pupils and teachers what to wear.
Meanwhile the government is so afraid of being blamed for
council tax rises that it has made it next to impossible for councils to vary that
much too.
What England needs is a reversal of this process. Responsibility
must be returned from national government to local government. That way we
should have more diversity and experiment, and elected representatives would be
closer to the people they serve.
It would also lead to a revival of interest in local
politics, because who ran your council would suddenly matter a lot more. It
might also attract more impressive candidates to stand for the council, because
those councils would wield real power.
One thing voters, politicians and the media would have to do
is agree to give up complaining about a “postcode lottery”.
Different councils would have different spending priorities
and come to different decisions. But that’s the real point about local
government. It’s local.
Jonathan Calder blogs at Liberal England
Why not Nottingham?
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