The Times...Plan C?

The Times
November 06, 2004
Going south
Local government in England after the North East votes “no”
The referendum campaign on the proposed regional assembly for the North East of England did not have the profile of the US presidential contest and the result was hardly as gripping as the Bush-Kerry battle. By a stunning margin of 4 to 1, on a respectable turnout of 48 per cent, John Prescott’s flawed blueprint has been rejected by the voters. Despite some bluster from ministers yesterday, few now doubt that the idea of regional assemblies or mini-parliaments across England is finished. If the electorate of the North East, considered to be the most sympathetic to this scheme, will not accept it, then the chances of any other region embracing the concept are minimal.

Not one extra penny of public money should, therefore, be wasted on this proposal. Nor should one tear be shed at the outcome of this ballot. Voters in the North East, although traditionally loyal to the Labour Party, wisely recognised that they were being offered a talking shop with no obvious purpose, few serious powers, but every prospect of acting as a catalyst for a bureaucratic and expensive reorganisation of their local government. Although the North East has a collective sense of identity, there are also important rivalries. The assembly would, for example, have been based in Durham because neither Newcastle upon Tyne nor Sunderland wanted the other to have it.

Although the early death of this awful white elephant is welcome, the state of local government in England is not. Labour came to power in 1997 promising to revitalise politics at the local level. Tony Blair was then an enthusiast for directly elected mayors, an innovation which he hoped would produce dynamic and effective leadership. This was a noble ambition, but it was always opposed by Mr Prescott, as well as by councillors and factions in the Labour Party. The embarrassing struggle over whether Ken Livingstone should be the Labour candidate for mayor of London in 2000 served to sap the Prime Minister’s enthusiasm for his own project. A few mayors have been created since then, but this experiment has largely ended.

After Mr Blair’s Plan A (elected mayors), followed the Deputy Prime Minister’s Plan B (regional assemblies). As these are no longer politically credible there is the danger that the Government will move to Plan C (doing nothing). This would not be satisfactory. There is widespread agreement that at least a modest degree of genuine local autonomy would be desirable. Among other virtues, decentralisation could (but not automatically would) be part of a process in which citizens are provided with real choice between more diverse forms of public services. Yet it is equally evident that the structure of councils and councillors that exists today is not up to the task in hand.

The resounding “no” in the North East must not be the excuse for abandoning all local government reform in England. Mr Blair might return to the theme of elected mayors. He should certainly solicit fresh thinking on how to make councils more professional and imaginative. Regions were never the answer to the “English question”, but the question will not go away.