Eric Pickles - The Fat Controller

The Fat Controller

Council cuts are nothing new but Eric Pickles' announcement that councils in England will face cuts of 9.9% next year is a particularly stark Christmas message. The cuts are part of a four year plan to reduce Central Government funing to Local Government by 28%. At the same time the Government is publishing a Localism Bill, designed to, 'devolve greater powers to councils and neighbourhoods and give local communities control over housing and planning decisions.'

According to the GMB Union 79 councils have issued warnings about job cuts and it is estimated that 74,000 jobs wil be lost in the New Year. So, not a merry christmas for many. GMB national officer Brian Strutton has commented that: "Local government seems to have been sacrificed on the altar of spending cuts and the whole range of council services will be dramatically slashed. From what we've seen, support for the needy and vulnerable will be particularly hard hit including carers for the elderly and children's social workers. So will street cleaning and refuse collection."

The Bradford Protests

Pickles has some 'previous' in this line. In the late 1980s, after a time as Chairman of the Young Conservatives, Pickles emerged as the 'beast of Bradford' a right wing leader of Bradford City Council who slashed the council's budget by £50 million, reducing the workforce, over five years, by a third. In comparison with the Bradford firebrand, Pickles, who had previously been a communist and was regarded as a 'wet' Tory during his early career, appears to have returned to those left-wing roots by only making 9.9% cuts.

To show that he is a well-rounded figure and not completely averse to public spending: during the expenses scandal Pickles admitted he claimed an allowance for a second home because he had a four hour journey to work although he lived only 37 miles away from Westminster. For average size commuters the trip only took 90 minutes. Despite his tough image Pickles has a sensitive side. In 2006 a fish and chip shop in his constituency launched the 'Eric Pickled Egg'. The item was removed when Pickles complained that egg represented a personal slight and said the episode was 'in bad taste' because he, in fact, disliked vinegar.

Pickles might be taking away with one hand but he is giving us the Localism Bill in the other. The Department for Communities claims,

"Decentralising government is at the heart of everything we do - transferring power from central government to local authorities and the individuals they represent. We want to achieve a position where strong, empowered local government is able to act in the best interests of its residents with the necessary support, not interference, from central government institutions. We are going to make it clear who is responsible for doing a job and give communities the powers to ensure it is done. We will strengthen democratic accountability and hold elected officials to account, for example through referendums and greater transparency." 

Power to the people! In principle it is difficult to disagree with the aims of the Bill. One of the Bill's more innovative clauses confers a “protected status” on important 'community assets' such as pubs, libraries or even shops. If one of these properties goes on the market, local people are given extra time to buy and keep the service going. In rural locations, particularly, this could be a valuable power. There will also be a new right to let community or voluntary groups run local services like meals on wheels which would be paid for by the council.

However, some of the proposals are rather concerning. One of my early posts noted that the housing benefit reforms would, "lead to homelessness and since there is a statutory duty to house homeless people, the cost will ultimately fall back upon the government anyway, or will that duty be removed?" (http://canthingsonlygetbetter.blogspot.com/2010/10/housing-no-comment.html). The Localism Bill proposes to end the statutory duty for councils to house homeless people permanently in affordable accommodation. Instead they will be able to discharge their responsibilities by finding them private rented accommodation for at least 12 months.

Another less publicised aspect of the Bill is the proposal to reform the Housing Revenue Account. For those who don't know, it is sets the level of central government subsidy for council housing. The social housing budget has already been cut by 50%. If you throw in the new powers for people to approve or veto "excessive" council tax rises (how many will vote for the necessary increases to maintain services?) then we are looking at a very grim picture for social housing and those who rely on it to keep their heads above water.

Ultimately, given the size of the cuts, I think we will see councils taking some very tough decisions.  Rather than deciding which services to enhance according to local priorities, we will see people deciding which front line services will have to be cut or lost. As the BBC's Nick Robinson said in his blog recently, "Governments with money centralise and claim the credit. Governments without cash decentralise and spread the blame." He pointed out that this cynical view was not his own but came from a top Tory 'policy wonk'. Make deep cuts and then sit back and let the local councillors take the flak.

Eric Pickles - 'the Beast of Bradford' 

In 2010 local councils were responsible for spending £177 billion, a huge slice of government expenditure, yet most of us don't know the name of our local councillor. You may not be a direct beneficiary of all these services, but we all benefit from the opportunity they provide for members of our community.

Time to get involved before Eric gets rid of it all. If we don't, at least we'll know who ate all the pie.