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24 Nov 2016

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Council tax, Devolution, Local Enterprise Partnership, Transparency

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Devolution: “flawed fiscal ‘power’, an unjust system, unfulfilled potential”

“… local authority funding (for services) will become far more volatile as year to year income will be intrinsically linked to those who pay rates locally and those who choose to appeal. So, in sum business rates devolution in its current guise is less about devolved power and more about the devolution of risk and the associated, potentially negative, effect on services. …

… In 2016, there is no such thing as the UK housing market, rather a polarised collection of divergent, individual markets (hyper-dynamic price inflation in London versus low demand and price stagnation in parts of Liverpool & East Lancashire, for example) bearing little or no resemblance to the situation at the time of the last revaluation some 25 years ago.
The effect of this is an increasingly unfair council tax banding where a resident in Blackpool in a Band A property currently pays 35% more in council tax than a resident in a Band A property in Kensington and Chelsea, where average gross earnings are more than double that of those living beside the Pleasure Beach. …

… So far, devolution has only served to deflect risk and responsibility for the local effect of national cuts and add a further layer of complexity to an already intractable local government governance system. The lack of real power in devolution deals to date does not fully equip places or the incoming City Mayors to effectively deal with the challenges of the modern economy whilst driving tax revenue.

Without true devolution of power, the potential contribution of local government towards a prosperous future for people and place is in danger of drowning in a mire of unnecessary fiscal constraints and excessive levels of localised risk.”

http://www.cles.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/CLES-Think_Devolution-Beyond-the-rhetoric_Nov-2016.pdf

2 thoughts on “Devolution: “flawed fiscal ‘power’, an unjust system, unfulfilled potential””

  1. It took me a while to figure out, but I now believe that the changes that the Tory government are making to county council funding and to the NHS are actually part of a bigger but secret social engineering agenda.

    The changes to the NHS in the 2012 act make the type, quantity and quality of NHS services a local CCG decision based on local funding. The changes to County Council funding of social care (to be funded by business rates or council tax) are making these services based on local funding. SO rather than a national standard of care, it will very much depend on where you live as to the services you receive. This gives great advantage to the more affluent areas, with much lower deprivation, who will get far better quality services than the more deprived areas of the UK which will suffer lower quality services despite greater need.

    There seems to be only one logical explanation for the Conservative Party doing this – that they want to create a divided and divisive society, possibly because a divided society is one where greed is encouraged and, as Margaret Thatcher’s historical legacy shows us, greedy citizens tend to think shorter and shorter term and vote Conservative.

    But the long term consequences of this are also clear if you look. A younger generation which is massively worse off than the older generation was when they were the same age, a younger generation Just-About-Managing, a younger generation which may never be able to afford their own homes.

    As I have said before, I was a Tory voter for over 3 decades. But no more.

    I simply cannot stomach the way they are destroying society, abusing democracy and consistently working to a secret agenda hidden behind lies, denial of reality and stubborn persistence in implementing it regardless of public opinion or the consequences – like their current claims that there is not a crisis in either the NHS or social services despite both the NAO and UK Statistics Authority saying there is, or the intransigence and bullying of Junior Doctors.

    I would like to think that the general populous might wake up and see what is happening, but so far there is little sign of this. My requests for volunteers to form a team to analyse the local CCG proposals seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Elections e.g. of the PCC continue to be dominated by people voting for Conservatives despite the poor quality of their candidate and her being investigated for fraud.

    But IMO, unless people wake up and see what is happening, and then decide to put in the time and effort to fight it, I fear that Britain as we know it will be changed irreparably for the worse before the next general election.

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