Tory blogger OxfordSpring gives his thoughts on how the finery and pomp of the local Service of Remembrance today inspired him to think on the nature of local government and localism.
Whilst I have a lot of sympathy with his view that local government should mean just that - government at the local level. Sounds like a simple statement of the bleeding obvious, but I think that his view is a sound one: that local authorities should be more than mere administrative centres, given local accent to Whitehall or Brussles-formulated policies, but bodies making real decisions.
I do genuinely think, however, that many of the areas listed in the article are already well within the powers of local councils. I also think that local government needs a great deal of reform before more powers should be handed to them.
This issue also links in with the points I've made in my review of the Daniel Hannan/Douglas Carswell book "The Plan".
Sunday, 8 November 2009
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My response to this blog may be found at http://OxfordSpring.blogspot.com , or here:
"I will first rebuke your points on the powers of local goverment, before expanding more broadly to disuss your questions.
i)Oxford Trading Standards ENFORCE, they do not decide on the Health & Safety policies that the traders have to abide by
ii) While local councils organise roads, much of the money comes from central government who also dictate the general ethos/shape of the town through industry patronage and funding opportunities
iii) Justice should be local - "a jury of peers". Would encourage a harsh, localised level of law eforcement (as each area fought crime harder than the one next to it). It would also allow habitual criminals to become known by the courts sooner.
More generally - saying that local government has problems is no reason not to give them powers! Central government has just as many/more problems. Nor is it for central government to 'hand' people power - it should be localised from the start! Once power is given, there will be greater impetus to reform.
The relation of all this to the Remembrance Service is not so much the organisation of the service (though that was excellent). It is about the fact that community still exists in this counrty and is still prepared to organise itself - but if we dont take advantage of it soon, it will disappear forever."
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