Labour & local government 'reform'. Hmm

Some years ago I had a long stint (3 terms) as a local councillor.  Local government has changed in various ways since then, but I remain very well tapped-in locally and have plenty of first-hand perspectives.  I like to think I’ve seen, and indeed participated in, some genuinely useful Local Authority actions over the years. 

Lots of folk reckon that giving local people “more say” in matters makes for better, more informed decision-making, as well as creating an important cadre of people that step up to take responsibility for stuff.  Doing this for the most part in the properly-constituted, formal Local Authority framework is only right to protect all concerned.  But we can also applaud, for example, the many benefits of healthy local media organisations, albeit precious few local newspapers survive that are worthy of the name.

From Burke and his “little platoons”, through Simon Jenkins and his localist enthusiasms, to Andy Burnham et al with some decent track record to display, there are many advocates of wholesale transfer of powers to local authorities.  I should stress that I, too, see major benefits of localisation in sectors where / governance arrangements under which, it is shown to work in practice.  These should be carefully identified and reinforced.  But there are just so many examples of utter nonsense in play.  To take just a few:

• Lutfur Rahman
• the outrageous goings-on at the Teesside Development Corruption – sorry, Corporation, that would disgrace a banana republic
• Rebecca Long-Bailey

Ah, LRB – remember her?  In a substantial pre-GE 2019 document (by weight, that is, not genuine substance) she planned to hand the whole of our energy infrastructure, physical and supply, over to local authorities (the irony! when you see what a cock-up they’ve always made of their energy endeavours), right down to the level of parish councils and even “local communities … of around 200 homes“; and of course all workers in the sector to be unionised.   200 homes!  That’s when you know you’re dealing with a doctrinaire head-case.  OK, nobody ever paid it any serious attention at the time; and she languishes, whipless, on the back benches now, having been the “continuity Corbyn” candidate in 2020, thoroughly trounced by Starmer, and reduced to feeble parliamentary protest-votes.  But still, it shows what some people mean by localisation.