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Localism Bill

The record will show that for many years under the Labour Government it was Conservative councils, not Labour ones, that increased their council tax. This Bill is meant to take power from Whitehall and devolve it to local communities, but we find on closer inspection that it provides an arsenal of more than 100 new powers for the Secretary of State. It should be re-titled the ““only if I say so”” Bill, because if the Secretary of State does not like it, it ain't happening. Much has been made of the introduction of local referendums, and we support mechanisms that promote public engagement in the political process, but when the Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to decide what is or is not a local matter and on what local people can and cannot have a say, just how deep the Government's commitment is to localism is called into question. Far from devolving power as we were promised, this Bill represents a massive accumulation of power in the hands of the Secretary of State. If nothing else, at least we now know why the Government were forced to drop the word ““decentralisation”” from the Bill's title.