Inequality should be a key theme of this election. And not just absolute measures, either, important as they are. Regional inequality is also a massive issue in the UK:
- The IPPR State of the North 2019 report shows how the UK is more regionally divided than any comparable advanced economy - in terms of e.g. productivity, disposable income and life expectancy.
- In addition, the UK has the most centralised government of any comparable economy.
- This centralisation has helped reinforce inequalities, as evidence shows that decisions taken in central London are biased towards London and the South East.
- Centralisation has also left the provision of local services weakened and undermined the capacity of local authorities to take investment decisions.
- Between 2010/11 and 2018, local authorities have seen 24% cuts after population growth and changing responsibilities (IFS), with cuts falling disproportionately on councils in more deprived areas (BBC).
- The National Audit Office notes that the financial position of local authorities has "worsened markedly". This has hurt those who depend on local services most; in 2018, only â…“ of councils felt they would be financially able to provide the "bare minimum" in public services after 2023. (FT)
- The increase to local authority funding in the 2019 Spending Round would go less than a fifth of the way to reversing this. In the manifestos:
- Under Tory plans, local authorities would need to make further cuts to services, even with a council tax rise of 4%.
- The Lib Dem plans would allow councils to meet demand at current level of services with a council tax rise of 2%.
- Labour plans would allow for increased service provision, though still not to pre-2010 levels. (IFS)
Empowering and funding local authorities is crucial for an efficient programme of public investment, but only one party is even vaguely near funding such a programme. For those with concern for the country beyond London, and all those who have concern for the vital services local authorities supply this is a deeply worrying situation.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
Worth pointing out, perhaps, that by ‘State of the North’, the IPPR mean the North of England. Displaying their own metropolitan bias, perhaps, given that if you were writing this report in Edinburgh you could well have called it ‘The State of the South’. Also should be noted that the cuts to Local Authority funding in Scotland have been much smaller than in England. I believe, for example, that my authority of Midlothian has seen an 8% real terms cut since 2010, while some English councils have seen a 40% or more cut.
However, I agree that councils should be restored to more of what they were in the 19th century. Lesley Riddoch makes a good case for Scotland having a lot more much smaller councils and thus much more directly relevant and democratic for the population. More like Scotland used to have pre-1974 with the Royal Burghs. Most towns of any size in Scotland used to have their own council with counties for the outlying areas.
Good comment Tim
Thanks
Whichever way you look at it, it’s not acceptable. The centralisation in this country is no better than what the Soviets were accused of under communism. And the simple fact is that ‘the market’ cannot provide for everything as much as the state can’t. There is no attempt at balance between the two sectors. Poor thinking – that’s what it is.