"Right then, how much should we put aside for gritting this winter? Any views UKIP colleagues?" "I propose we leave the EU" "Right, thanks for that"
That's kind of what I'm suggesting would be more appropriate. Local issues in my view are indeed this simple and there is no room for politics. It's about delivering services. I don't think politics has owt to do with it. In the states the Sherriff - the tax collector - the district judge - a large swaithe of the public sectors key decision makers have to stand for re-election every X years. I think this is a great idea - if you don't stick "democrat" or "republican" on the back of the voting form. The political angle prevents the best people from getting the job. Maybe - however I think it's a bit tenuous though due to the amount of statutory duties imposed by central govt. It's not like Barnsley could exit the EU as you rightly point out - or even decide to legalise smoking in pubs or pretty much do anything different to anyone else. As an illustration - as a point of debate only the BNP have a policy of council house priority for local people first. Let say for the sake of hypothesis the BNP got to run a council. They would be prevented from implementing this policy due to national legislation. Similarly Mayor Davies in Donny got elected with several policies such as reducing the number of councillors and getting rid of none jobs like race equality coordination advisors..... But national legislation prevented him from implementing the desires and wishes of the electorate. So for me it comes down to - who is doing the best job. Are your bins being collected well are the schools run properly and are vulnerable kids safe. I too would vote for Dan Jarvis. I've said it several times. but Michael Dugger - FFS - third one in line come the revolution behind gideon and balls. Agreed - entirely.
But the successful delivery of all those local services is dependent on decisions. You can have the world's most efficient weekly bin collection but that might mean people with dementia are left to fend for themselves. Or where new homes are built. Or whether transport spending is prioritised on sustainable transport or improving roads for cars. That's inescapably a political decision.How are those calls made without accountability through the electorate ?
All fair points. but not out of kilter with what I'm saying. I'm not advocating a removal of accountability to the electorate. I'm advocating a removal of party politics. Where shall we build new homes? I'm not sure which political party has radical different views or policies which would impact at a local level. You might expect a Green Party person to oppose green field development, but I couldn't say which other parties would have one policy or another. Indeed you might expect Labour to hold on to it's council houses and build more, and the tories to sell them off and privatise services but in reality at a local level all of them have had to do pretty much the same due to central govt. statutes. Accross the country bin collections are being fecked about with right royally by all manner of parties....it matters not colours on your mast. Take away the party angle is my point.
I fully agree with you here - it's a great idea. Apart from anything else it might be the change we need for central government to devolve more powers to at least the big cities. Local government is often dominated by the party in opposition (often due to mid-term protest voting) which has led a number of prime ministers (Thatcher and Blair are the big ones that I know about, but it's been going on since the late 1960s) to centralise more and more decisions in order to make sure the other side can't have their way. My own city - Birmingham - had remarkably strong local governance up to the mid twentieth century, but now they aren't allowed to change the colour of the seats in the council chamber without it being OKed by head office. And I'm sick to the back teeth of getting brochures enticing me to vote for the party who I want to deal with local planning, bin collections or public transport plastered with pictures of Miliband or Cameron. I want strong, talented project managers and experienced professionals in charge of my city, not half-baked party yes-men who can barely brush their own teeth. It seems to be the party system at a local level which breeds the latter.
True. But by voting you're just inviting them to represent you as someone who either agreed fully with what they're saying/doing, or (more likely, at least in private) as somebody who they've done just enough to convince - job done. As an anonymous non-voter I can be any of the things you mentioned, but as a voter my opinion is reduced simply to somebody who'll go for them over the others, and in this era of voter triangulation that's all they need to protect their jobs. Old-fashioned ideas like doing the best for your voters or acting in the interests of the country are out of the window entirely. Fundamentally, I don't like or trust career politicians, and I am totally convinced that they're out for nobody for themselves. It's an awful state of affairs and the only way I can deal with it is by not playing their stupid games. I'm not the one who's betraying "the people who fought and died for democracy" - they are. With a corrupt voting system and an establishment that promotes nobody but its own up the greasy pole. They'll do what they want anyway, but I've decided they'll do it without my blessing. It's not much, but at least I can sleep easy because of it.
I swear it rains more often on a Thursday...Postal voting is the way forward for us sun worshippers...
