It is expected and natural for a new government to put its stamp on national affairs as soon as possible. Back in 1997, the new Labour government surprised everyone by giving a degree of independence to the Bank of England. This is something that the Conservatives should have done during one of their four consecutive terms of government. The fact that Labour did this so quickly gave them some credibility in management of the economy but that was a long time ago.
Seizing the political initiative is of crucial importance. In the game of chess, it is sometimes said that the initiative is worth at least a pawn. You might not be winning the game in terms of pieces captured but you can compensate by pushing forward with what you have and putting your opponent on the defensive. A Conservative Party without an overall Parliamentary majority in its own right needs to get moving with as much of its own agenda as possible and the first signs are encouraging.
The commitment to return more power to local councils and communities is an explicit part of the government’s programme as promised during the General Election campaign. This is the right reaction to the control freak agenda of Labour’s third term in office.
We will see a scaling back of the local government inspection regime together with the burden it places on councils and their ability to fulfil their core role serving the community. In particular, the bureaucratic and tiresome CAA (Comprehensive Area Assessment) will be abolished. From town hall windows up and down the country, we will see fewer bureaucrats approaching the building with what some have called a characteristic “inspectors’ walk”.
All of this reform is good and worthwhile. We will also see the abolition of some unelected QUANGOs (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Government Organisations) which wield far too much unaccountable power and influence over our lives. As these changes happen, it will all seem such an obvious action to take that many of us will ask, “Why did this not happen before?” It is because we had a government that increasingly believed that it knew best. Only the government had a (national) brain. The rest of us were implicitly judged as being incapable of making big and reasoned decisions. Insulting governments lose elections.
This coalition government now has a momentum that is must sustain in the years ahead. It has rightly prioritised a reduction in the huge national deficit. Only by doing so can we achieve a return to sustainable economic growth which itself will contribute to reducingBritain’s debt. Local government is being asked to play its part and I have no complaints about this. We must all share the burden and the government is providing some help by reducing the ring-fencing of our budgets, meaning that locally we have more choice over our spending priorities.
The government has made a good start and I wish it well with the challenges ahead.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
26th May 2010