The papers report that Eric Pickles has beaten Caroline Spelman: bins will be collected
on a weekly basis. Back in June, James reported how the DCLG and DEFRA were opposed to
Pickles’ plan and that Spelman, who once advocated weekly collections in Opposition, had gone Whitehall native. It was a test, James said, of the government’s ability to master its
civil servants.
Pickles was very closely associated with the pledge and the impasse threatened to damage his burgeoning reputation in office. Now he is gloating in his hour of victory. “I may make passing reference to the scheme in my speech,” he told the Today programme in that garrulous manner of his. He has also written an article on ConHome, where he says that bin collection is the most visible local service – and therefore one of enormous electoral significance.
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