Sunday, February 26, 2012

Eric Pickles - shoot first, think... ummm... errr...

I know that we have to be in coalition with the Conservatives. Economic crisis, stable government, etc. etc. And I'm even willing to accept that some of the Conservatives are decent human beings - not liberals, for the most part, but decent enough even when they're wrong. But do I have to endure Eric Pickles?

We are, after all, part of a government that has introduced a power of general competence for local government - a good thing, especially if your local council is innovative and thoughtful (mine aren't, but that's a different problem, especially as both are run solely by Conservatives a small number of Conservative councillors). So, when will Eric get that? We've passed a Localism Bill, giving local councils the freedom to do things differently, removing the handcuffs and other restraints put on local government by a distrustful Labour administration and, in fairness, the distrustful Conservative administration before that. Or hadn't Eric noticed?

And yet, our 'friend' insists on undermining such good intentions virtually every time he opens his mouth. A bribe to councils returning to weekly refuse collection, a insistence on prayer, referenda on increases in council tax, talk of a moral duty to keep council tax rises low, more bribes to freeze council tax, the list of irritations piles up.

The idea of localism, as I perceive it, is that you allow local councils to 'get on with it', responding to local needs, being kicked out of office by the electorate if they don't, that sort of thing. There are very few local councils I have encountered who spend money like water just because they can (their competence, perhaps, is open to question) and one finds that they tend to be punished if they do so.

I accept that such a model isn't without flaws. You will get variations in service levels, the dreaded 'postcode lottery', because local councils will have differing priorities based on the nature of their communities, whether they are rural or urban, wealthy or relatively poor. But, within reason, what's wrong with that? Isn't it right that Stowmarket and Eye decide what is good for us, rather than Westminster?

I don't want you wasting my money as a taxpayer on bringing a dustcart the three miles from Stowmarket to Creeting St Peter every week to empty my wheelie bin, especially as it is highly unlikely to be even half full. And if it is, give me a bigger wheelie bin. I don't want prayers as part of the official business of my council, although if my colleagues want to get together beforehand, I've no objection. And I don't want you distorting the argument about how I fund council services by means of a populist bribe that you have no intention of renewing each year.

In other words, I'd rather have someone who gets local government, localism and light touch from the centre. And that isn't you, Eric...

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