There is a democratic deficit

Posted on

Simon Jenkins is the sort of annoying columnist with whom you have on occasion to seriously agree and sometimes seriously disagree. I guess that's a merit.

This morning he's on form, arguing that local response is needed to the riots we're suffering. As he puts it:

There is no substitute for proper, open, responsive democracy at any tier of government. There can be no localism without some discretion over taxation and resources. There can be no big society without a vote. Curing any community's woes is not the job of the police. Leave it to them and trouble will simply recur.

In other words, community matters but it has been undermined in the UK and that process does have consequences for a lack of identity with place.

I think he is right.

Neither Labour or Tories have got this right. It's a big issue to be addressed. What it says is Courageous States are confident enough to delegate power. We've not been there.


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