Get it right, and the Big Society bank could be massive

Michael Dugher is only half right when he tweets that you know the government is in trouble when it dusts down another Big Society announcement. The idea, in principle, is a good one, or at very least it is an interesting and important experiment in finding new ways of funding public services. Sir Ronald Cohen, the chair of Big Society Capital, was once a close ally of Gordon Brown and much of the thinking in this area happened in the New Labour era. There is no need for this to become a party-political battleground. The real question is, will it work? Or is it another example of boom-time policy making that will prove unfit for purpose in harder times?

For a start, the government needs to get its message on this clear. Big Society Capital will not save charities now facing closure because of the withdrawal of local or central government grants.