David Cameron has rightly received a lot of praise for his proposals, announced this week, to return real power and information to local people. You can read the full speech on the Conservative Party website.
The next Conservative Government will:
- Publish all Parliamentary information online in an open-source format, giving real accessibility and accountability to the decision-making process
- Increase local control over schools, housing and policing
- Curb the power of the whips in Parliament and spin-doctors in Government
He said, “The effects of this redistribution of power will be felt throughout our politics with people in control of the things that matter to them, a country where the political system is open and trustworthy, and where power is redistributed from the political elite to the man and woman in the street”
Very easy to say all this when you’re in Opposition, a lot more difficult to implement when in government. If there’s a close vote in Parliament, and Labour et al are whipping like crazy, are the Tories really gonna sit back and risk losing the vote? I don’t think so…
Also, giving more power to local councils would naturally mean giving more power to Labour councils like Salford – given the fine mess they’ve got us into (St Georges, massive budget deficit, you know the problems better than I do), do you really wanna give them more say over education and housing?
Rick
That is what local democracy ot democracy is about. Let’s have a form of PR so that we can get rid of the power swings and ‘winner takes all’ in our local and national elections.