Tuesday 14 September 2010

Central Government 'Control' - Its The Money, Stupid

Linking to my previous post 'Localism & Efficiency' comes this report from Public Finance, reporting on the first sittting of the local government select committee yesterday. Attending were Eric Pickles, Grant Shapps and Greg Clark, the latter who has laughingly been blessed with the title of decentralisation minister. Probably the most telling admission by Pickles was that he ruled out the possibility of a local income tax, one of the options suggested by Lyons.

Bearing in mind the adage that "a power lost is a power never regained" - an illustration of which is the EU, but there I go; digressing again - to instigate any form of local taxation would mean relinquishing power by MPs and that ain't going to happen.

Also mentioned by Pickles is the Local Government Improvement and Development agency and the Association of Public Service Excellence. On the basis that one logically cannot impose a blanket standard of operating on areas with differing needs and choices the question must be asked of what value are these two 'quangos' and what is their cost to the public purse.

The Coalition prattle on about decentralisation, but it becomes ever more apparent by the day that that just ain't going to happen either - which begs the question why are we paying Greg Clark for a non-job?

No comments: