Published elsewhere: is the golden age of government largesse over?

Here's another piece that I've written for Liberal Democrat Voice...

It is true that things were always better at sometime in the past. Or at least, it feels like that, especially as you get older. But perhaps it is. In the period since World War II, government, at national, state and local level, has provided more and more in the way of support to indivdiuals, organisations and communities, mostly for reasons widely supported to be of public good, sometimes for more cynical reasons, occasionally because it can. In a growing economy, such interventions are sustainable.

However, Robert Black, the former Auditor General for Scotland, in a lecture at the David Hume Institute last night, questioned whether or not the current range of free public services can remain so. And, whilst his examples were taken from Scottish government programmes, the point he makes is one that the rest of us need to consider very carefully. Responding to Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont's suggestion that their support for free university tuition, a freeze on council tax and free NHS prescriptions could be in doubt, Black said;

The move being made by the Labour Party in Scotland to at least start asking questions is a good thing. We need to do more of that but we need to do it as a society. I mean can we really afford all the services that are free at the point of delivery?

Of course, politicians agree with that. Well, mostly in private, but they do. The question is, how do you create a safe space in which politicians engage with the wider society to argue over what, and how?

To take two of his examples, the cost of the concessionary travel scheme in Scotland in expected to reach £500 million in the next decade. Is sacrificing that to maintain free, or subsidised nursing care for the elderly a reasonable exchange? Did increasing police numbers in Scotland from 6,900 in 1949 to 17,000, despite the use of technology, make people safer, or even feel safer? What has changed to justify the increase?

In his lecture, Robert Black went on to argue that, instead of focussing on passing more and more legislation, government should spend more time on budget scrutiny. The notion that Parliament might focus on how things work and what they cost, and how one might make existing structures work better, rather than replacing them with new ones, is not very 'sexy', nor does it leave an obvious legacy for the Minister, but it does have the potential advantage of stability and of organic, evolutionary change in the way public services are run.

As Liberal Democrats, we need to be part of that debate too, and whilst it is tempting to take the same stance that Labour have taken in opposition at Westminster - not this cut, not in that way, not now - if we are to protect the vulnerable, create opportunity and encourage freedom, we need to think about our priorities for a decent, inclusive society are and how we pay for them over the long term, and then start making that case in public. 

* Mark Valladares worries about balancing the books at his Parish Council in Creeting St Peter, Suffolk. He has a nasty feeling about anything much beyond that.