Local Government Matters

Liberal Democrats are the champions of local democracy and local decision-making. I believe that much of the distrust in politics that has been seen in recent years stems from the overload of decisions made in Westminster.

As a local councillor for ten years and cabinet member on Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council I saw for myself how the best policies usually arise from grassroots democracy that unlocks the intelligence and imagination of local communities. Moreover, policies that arise from the grassroots have a democratic credibility that top-down policies – however successful – can never match. Democracy can never be too local.

Under the Conservatives, Britain has become far more centralised. Even away from Westminster, the Tories prefer to give power to a select few individuals. Clear examples of the this are the Metro Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners, who have jurisdiction over large geographical areas. They are empowered – in the misleading Tory jargon – to act ‘decisively.’ In reality, representatives from diverse communities are shut out of debate.

But even more damaging for local democracy has been the savage cuts to local council budgets. In the last decade the Conservatives have cut funding to local councils to the point that they are often unable to deliver anything except statutory services. As the delivery of statutory services is tightly regulated by central government, the net effect has been to strip away almost all genuine decision-making powers from local councils. We Liberal Democrats cannot wash our hands of all responsibility for this. Given how strongly local government is in our DNA, one of our greatest failings in the Coalition was not to stand up more strongly for council funding.

Of course, some strategic decisions do properly belong at the regional or the national level. But our system tends to work best when central government limits itself to setting broad frameworks, and both empowers and funds local government to make key decisions on how specifically to implement those frameworks. One size does not fit all.

The ongoing Covid crisis highlights how badly our overly-centralised system has failed us.

If I become leader of the Liberal Democrats I will make it one of the party’s key campaigns to return power and money to local councils.

First, the crisis has highlighted the enormous importance of social care to our society. The delivery of social care is inherently local. It is councils who know best the conditions on the ground and can tailor imaginative solutions to local needs. It is councils who can best coordinate community agencies including the public, private and charity sectors. But they have been hamstrung by the lack of funding and the lack of decision-making freedom.

Second, our devastating death toll is partly down to the Conservative decision to abandon track and trace in March. They did this because they did not have the centralised capacity. Rather than abandoning track and trace, they should instead have funded and empowered local councils to do it. The Conservatives are now making the same mistake again with a centralised system while easing the lockdown. This system has clear flaws. If only they were prepared to abandon their ideological opposition to local government, lives would be saved.

Third, as we emerge from lockdown many important decisions will need to be made about how local businesses can reopen safely. Each local community has its unique circumstances. It is only the local council who can respond to these circumstances in a flexible and collaborative way. These decisions cannot be reached in Whitehall.

We must not let any of this be forgotten in the months and years ahead. The fantastic sight of communities coming together in the past few months has created fertile ground for a resurgence of local democracy. We must take this opportunity.

If I become leader of the Liberal Democrats I will make it one of the party’s key campaigns to return power and money to local councils.