An original Liberal Democrat councillor from Liverpool called Richard Kemp has
labelled Eric Pickles and Grant Shapps Laurel and Hardy. Kemp is adamant that savings cannot be made by efficiencies alone; cuts will
affect councils’ control of services. It’s a sharp observation. Indeed, he has located the precise point of the Localism Bill. Communities are being empowered; councillors are not.
Pickles has introduced a radical agenda on which the dust will take time to settle. The Bill’s political genius is to devolve responsibility and enforce cuts without relinquishing financial control. At best councillors can fondle the purse; the strings remain largely out of reach. Bin taxes have been abolished; infrastructure levies on developers have been restructured in favour of affected neighbourhoods, not authorities; and ‘excessive council tax rises’ will now be subject to referendums. As Tony Crosland once said to local government: the party’s over.
Wandsworth and Hammersmith and Fulham councils are now national models for cutting spending and improving services; but, realistically, there is a limit to how far councils can cut without the range of their services being affected.
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