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| I'm outraged at Westminster meddling in council affairs | I'm outraged at Westminster meddling in council affairs |
| (17 days later) | |
| Speaking as a local government officer, am I surprised that central government intends to introduce new procurement regulations to prevent councils from boycotting companies we consider to be unethical? No. Outraged, yes, but not surprised. In fact, I’m surprised we didn’t see this coming. | Speaking as a local government officer, am I surprised that central government intends to introduce new procurement regulations to prevent councils from boycotting companies we consider to be unethical? No. Outraged, yes, but not surprised. In fact, I’m surprised we didn’t see this coming. |
| When it comes to localism policy and dealing with local government, Conservative governments have always displayed a kind of cognitive dissonance – constantly interfering in the way councils should or should not organise themselves. Yet they have been unwilling to formalise a written constitution or framework and even dismantled the Audit Commission in 2010, removing any standard way of benchmarking and measuring our performance on a national basis. | When it comes to localism policy and dealing with local government, Conservative governments have always displayed a kind of cognitive dissonance – constantly interfering in the way councils should or should not organise themselves. Yet they have been unwilling to formalise a written constitution or framework and even dismantled the Audit Commission in 2010, removing any standard way of benchmarking and measuring our performance on a national basis. |
| Related: Councils and NHS trusts to be blocked from boycotting Israeli products | Related: Councils and NHS trusts to be blocked from boycotting Israeli products |
| This, as well as the bonfire of the quangos, including the regional development agencies, and the drastic reduction in funding from central government over the past five years – all, we are told, in aid of localism and devolution. Former communities secretary Eric Pickles was always so keen to emphasise that councils were now “free” of “red tape”, and could go about their business in any way residents wanted them to. After all, decisions at a local level are taken by directly elected local councillors, who are far closer to their constituents than a minister in Whitehall, right? | This, as well as the bonfire of the quangos, including the regional development agencies, and the drastic reduction in funding from central government over the past five years – all, we are told, in aid of localism and devolution. Former communities secretary Eric Pickles was always so keen to emphasise that councils were now “free” of “red tape”, and could go about their business in any way residents wanted them to. After all, decisions at a local level are taken by directly elected local councillors, who are far closer to their constituents than a minister in Whitehall, right? |
| Well, wrong, it seems. National politicians cannot resist interfering in local decision-making, and whatever they have given with one hand, they have taken with the other. Pickles always insisted on having his cake and eating it, and then having another one for good measure. Councils had to find millions of pounds’ worth of efficiency savings, and yet somehow he found enough money down the back of the sofa to bribe them into returning to weekly bin collections. This failed dismally, of course, because central government doesn’t quite seem to understand that its job is not to tell us what to do. | Well, wrong, it seems. National politicians cannot resist interfering in local decision-making, and whatever they have given with one hand, they have taken with the other. Pickles always insisted on having his cake and eating it, and then having another one for good measure. Councils had to find millions of pounds’ worth of efficiency savings, and yet somehow he found enough money down the back of the sofa to bribe them into returning to weekly bin collections. This failed dismally, of course, because central government doesn’t quite seem to understand that its job is not to tell us what to do. |
| I predict that many councils will prefer to face legal challenge than toe this particular line. It wouldn’t be the first time and certainly won’t be the last that we have faced down preposterous diktats. | I predict that many councils will prefer to face legal challenge than toe this particular line. It wouldn’t be the first time and certainly won’t be the last that we have faced down preposterous diktats. |
| In any case, given that by 2020 local government will be financially self-sufficient, I don’t see how these regulations can be enforced. If local councils have a mandate – if procurement restrictions are set out in the manifesto of the party in power in any given council and it is wholly local taxpayers’ money being spent on the contracts – central government has no business intervening in those decisions. | In any case, given that by 2020 local government will be financially self-sufficient, I don’t see how these regulations can be enforced. If local councils have a mandate – if procurement restrictions are set out in the manifesto of the party in power in any given council and it is wholly local taxpayers’ money being spent on the contracts – central government has no business intervening in those decisions. |
| When I was a teenager, my father told me I couldn’t spend my pocket money on kickboxing lessons. So I told him not to give me pocket money any more, went out, got a job and paid for my own kickboxing lessons. Money does not equal control, no matter what Westminster thinks. | When I was a teenager, my father told me I couldn’t spend my pocket money on kickboxing lessons. So I told him not to give me pocket money any more, went out, got a job and paid for my own kickboxing lessons. Money does not equal control, no matter what Westminster thinks. |
| Joanne Fry is senior policy officer for Hertfordshire county council. These are her personal views. | |
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