Town & Country Planning, May 2010
Opinions are divided about the prospects for the new government, and that’s just my opinions. You have to apologise for too much enthusiasm as a columnist – a studied cynicism is considered proper – but most of my feeling is that the coalition is a hopeful sign.
Yes, the newspapers described Cameron and Clegg as a bit like Morecambe and Wise – though I would have said Ant and Dec. Yes, the sheer impossibility of what is being proposed is being widely rehearsed. Yes, it can’t last for ever (in fact, I very much hope it doesn’t).
But for the localism agenda, this opens up a range of exciting possibilities which would not have existed under any other outcome. And I should declare an interest here: I’m a member of the Lib Dems’ federal policy committee, so expect a certain bias.
Despite this, as I wrote in a previous column, I believe the prospects for a radical devolution of power under the Conservatives were still pretty uncertain. One of their front bench spokespeople had described their approach to local government as “tight control”.
Now we have localism in the equivalent of flashing lights right across the coalition agreement.
In fact, it is this agreement – rather than what is in it – which really makes the difference. Governments tend to ditch their manifestos as soon as it suits them after elections. We rarely know exactly what a new government’s policy is likely to be.
But now it is different. There are the policies agreed and signed for, in the coalition agreement. They can’t escape from them. It isn’t a signed agreement with the electorate – it is an agreement between the coalition partners – but it might as well be.
Any variation from the letter of the agreement will be treated by the press as a betrayal. They have to do it, and that includes breaking up the banks, devolving power, greening the economy and building a new dispensation for community participation.
Of course, none of this is quite straightforward, but there are four areas at least where those localists among us can be quite excited:
1. Devolution: most of this will clearly sit with Eric Pickles as the new Communities Secretary, but there is a commitment – not just to devolve more power to local government – but to review local government funding. Anything will be better, as far as they are concerned, to revaluing the whole of England for council tax, so it is quite possible they will opt instead for local income tax.
2. Tackling the banks: Vince Cable will be doing more than just putting in place the banking levy. The coalition agreement has set out a path towards breaking them up – though this clearly depends on his relationship with George Osborne – and a rather vaguer path towards creating a more diverse, local and mutual banking system. It isn’t clear how they will do this, but it is a vital underpinning for localism.
3. Low carbon economy: did Cameron know what this was when he used the phrase? That isn’t clear. Why did Clegg repeatedly use the phrase ‘green sustainable growth’? That isn’t clear either. These concepts will have to be defined, but it seems to me to be pretty clear that a low carbon economy is going to rely much less on fossil fuels. It absolutely has to be more local.
4. Co-production: there is a commitment to the amorphous Conservative concept of ‘Big Society’, without there being much content here. Nor is it quite clear where responsibility will lie in cabinet. It is up to the Liberal Democrats to make this workable, and make it Liberal too. I don’t suppose they have a strategy for this yet, but they need one.
In fact, so much now depends on the influence and organisation of the Lib Dems. If Cable acts on radical reform of the banking system, he will do so in the face of bitter opposition from the City of London and elements among backbench Conservative MPs.
What he, and those like him, are going to need is explicit political support – as well as research, information and basic cheerleading – if they are going to be able to press forward their ambitions .
Those of us in the voluntary sector, or in campaigning NGOs, who have become used to simply demanding things of politicians, are going to need to develop a more sophisticated strategy
The government must also understand that localism is not just about tweaking the relationship between central and local administration – it can be a fundamental element of reform.
My hope is that, by putting himself in overall charge of the political reform agenda as deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg will include radical localism under his responsibilities. If he does, we can expect some highly creative fireworks.
David Boyle is a fellow of the New Economics Foundation and the author of The Wizard (The Real Press, £7.99).
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