David Cameron’s Conservatives will centralise power and reduce choice
Conservative policy on local government is to give local councils “more power” but without giving them more control over their own affairs or the financial means to do so – reform of Council Tax is not mentioned, and they have already stated they will exert strong capping powers on local councils that propose any increases in expenditure. David Cameron this week spoke of decentralising power to local government. However when challenged on what additional power his reforms would give local councils, David Cameroon could not give an example of anything that can not already be undertaken using existing powers by local councils.
The bulk of local government income is paid by central government grants with less than a quarter of the cost of council expenditure coming from council tax payers. The Conservatives under David Cameron have made no proposals to change this, so West Sussex Conservative Councillors will no doubt continue to complain that the County Council is unfairly treated under any new Conservative government just as they have under Labour.
Similarly Conservative education policy is to end local authority control over schools and admissions, they would prefer “more choice” – for which read a free for all where only the lucky (or the well off who can buy places at private schools) get the school of their choice and elected councillors are denied the power to police the system, and to make it accountable to local electors. At the same time national controls and education policies would remain in force, but without local co-ordination or strategic direction.
Furthermore what choice is there in Conservative authorities like Kent where the parents only “choice” is by a selection based entrance policy for schools using a fail or pass exam that may set a child up for life. Choice is irrelevant if you can’t get it, parents would prefer no choice if they had a good local school to send their children to.
Our government is already too centralised yet the Conservatives have not made one real pledge to reverse this, and indeed will increase the process with their promise to dismantle “pointless and unaccountable” regional government, but without reducing in any aspect the overwhelming power of central government to dictate how our lives are run irrespective of our own wishes, or those of our elected local council representatives.
For the Liberal Democrat alternative see http://www.libdems.org.uk/home.