Labour’s Localism Dr Paul Harvey 17th June 2013 The Conservatives trailed their take on the idea of localism before the 2010 General Election. After the Localism Act of 2011 and two and half years of Coalition Government, it is reasonable to suggest that their commitment to their own defined principle of devolved power to communities has been ditched. Top down planning with a ‘presumption in favour of development’ is the order of the day, in an economic crisis that sees knee jerk Treasury policy driving rough shod over long term structural reform of our politics and economy which is needed if we are to address the deep seated problems we face. It is of course a brave government that sets out a long term vision of how it would restructure the state in order to address the economic and political crisis we face today. When jobs, livelihoods and recession all demand attention now, long term solutions are not popular, but they are necessary to change our countries direction of travel. Labour had many faults in 13 years of government, including an anathema towards devolution in the English regions. Just like the Tories now, ‘events dear boy, events’ inevitably drew policy towards the centre. In ever more needful ways the Labour Government sort to drive change from the centre. Labour had many successes in 13 years of government, including the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament, and many fundamental constitutional reforms such as the Freedom of Information Act. There was a lot that Labour could point to in education, health and child care that defined the Government as a champion of the public sector for all in society. That sense of values based politics is needed now more than ever. An incoming Labour Government in 2015 would be faced with two mammoth tasks. How to renew our politics and democracy alongside how to stimulate a sustainable economic recovery. These two tasks are not mutually exclusive, but they do not necessarily sit easily alongside each other. A desire for jobs, for homes and for tackling poverty set alongside a need for constitutional change to sort out the mess that is the Westminster square mile, as well as devolving power to truly local democracy and to offer long term planning for structural change away from an economy so heavily based around the finance and service sectors is a huge challenge. But it is one that Labour can rise to. The Party’s new policy development programme now underway under Jon Cruddas has been refreshing for its embrace of the wider party and organisations that can contribute to a process of renewal. If the Shadow Cabinet stays true to this principle of openness, and if Ed Miliband can find a voice to communicate it in a way that connects with people in the real world, then Labour has a real opportunity to be the difference heading into the 2015 General Election. There is nothing coming from the ‘right’ of British Politics but the same old mantra of the private sector is best and neo-liberal economics. If there was ever a time for the left to assert a new agenda it is now, and articulate it clearly over the next two and half years running into the 2015 General Election. There are some key policy areas that define this new agenda. The number of Council’s now building new housing stock is increasing as the reality that in the current market climate, and in the context of the current Coalition’s policy on social housing, the only way to deliver truly affordable homes is for direct provision by local authorities. The market will not provide, so with over 5million people on Housing Registers nationally there is an urgent need to unshackle local authorities and allow them to fill the vacuum. There is a national housing crisis that we need to address, and like the Macmillan and the post war Attlee Government’s we can and should set the building of affordable homes for local people as a national target. Disconnecting the market from this equation will also empower local authorities in the planning world as they need not pick housing targets based solely on market projections, but could be allowed to fix a housing figure around the true affordable need in their area. Local authorities can also be the drivers for economic recovery. It is foolish, I would argue, to believe real economic renewal can be driven solely from the Treasury. A London centric view needs to be challenged, because the GDP of the biggest cities still falls below that of the national average. Therefore we need a new focus on what we can generate through local jobs programmes focused on a localities economic strengths and needs. LEPS could be a vehicle for regional jobs growth that understands the landscape of the different regions of the country. If they were given strategic direction from the centre, their far more localised connection could deliver real progress in places that have been laid waste by the austerity gone mad under the Coalition and a recession that at this time will not lessen its grip of no growth. Welfare to work needs to be embraced again as a real policy which offers local jobs markets the opportunity to link to local education providers to skill a work force that meets local economic needs. Driving an agenda of social change through a living wage and skills can address both employer’s needs and employee’s needs. We need an economic balance between symbiotic private and public sector. After all in many cases the public sector is quite literally married to the private sector. Labour needs to be brave, we do not solve the welfare crisis by hurting those most poor, or those least able to navigate out of poverty. Idleness had become a disease again and it cannot simply be cut out of society, the Tories in this regard have always missed the point about the link between welfare and dignity. Labour needs a new social deal, where the responsibilities we expect in society are married to the support people are given not in some draconian nanny or authoritarian state, but in meaningful joined up intervention that actually affects people’s lives. To achieve many of these ideas we need a new landscape in local government. There will not be money for reorganisation, so one useful thing the centre can do for the local is to break down the barriers in a far more direct way between Counties and Districts. When it comes to governing for everyone a Labour Government needs to see beyond the cities and metropolitan boroughs, also beyond London to the wider geography of the nation. England is a patchwork quilt of forms of local democracy, and in many areas we might suggest that the two tier system is an impediment to much of the progress needed. Local economic drivers, local housing drivers, local solutions in health and education are all worthy goals for a Labour Government that believes in ‘total place’. National standards implemented in a local setting set against local need. It’s in our values, in what we deliver in local government, Labour need to be more than ever the Party that champion’s true localism.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:35:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015