By definition Christmas messages should be about a new start, they should be joyous and full of hope for what the next year may bring.
Regrettably it is difficult to meet all these requirements when writing about the future of local government. We certainly have a new start in that, thank goodness, the General Election has passed.
I think that it will be interesting to see how much of a new start it will really be. There are 151 new MPs after this election which is extremely high and that in itself will have some effect on the way business is dealt with. A number of those are currently councillors and it is to be hoped that they do not forget that too quickly.
Brexit boast
The proud boast of our new Prime Minister is that Brexit will be dealt with. That is, I think questionable. It is true that the withdrawal agreement will be dealt with expeditiously, although the House of Lords may prove a challenge, but realistically the withdrawal agreement should have been dealt with a long while ago.
3rd LATIF NORTH
March 25th, 2020, Manchester
Council treasury investment & borrowing
The complaint of local authorities is that because of leaving the EU there has been no time to deal with important local authority issues. That and the fact that many knowledgeable and capable civil servants have been moved to deal with EU matters has caused extreme difficulties.
My fear is that that is unlikely to change dramatically any time soon. There seems to be a general perception that the 31st January is the end whereas, in reality, it will be the beginning: The detailed negotiations about our future relationship and trading are going to consume a great deal of time.
However, what issues might local government hope to receive attention in the New Year?
Obviously social care. We have waited a long while for the promised Green and White Papers on this and it is of great importance. The LGA have now offered to help by setting out what it is that local authorities would like to see happen. This is useful, although I am not quite sure why this has come so late.
I understand the Cabinet Office has, for sometime, been well advanced with their vision, but the stumbling block has been the unlikelihood of getting political agreement. Perhaps a large majority and five years before the next General Election will allow the necessary actions to be brought in.
Fit for purpose
There needs to be a realistic look at the financing of local government. The switch to business rates is fine if it can be sustained. The whole world is against business rates. A Commons select committee concluded that the current arrangements were not fit for purpose.
The difficulty is that a large sum of money is involved and if it doesn’t come from business rates, where will it come from. There does seem to be some consensus around the need for bringing internet shopping into the equation. What should not happen is more and more reliefs which are administratively difficult and lessen the quantum.
I realise that the most pressing need for change is council tax which is a tax making no sense to most people. Especially those who have paid £2m and are assessed on a much smaller amount. There does need to be more bands and a revaluation at the very least, and, of course, local authorities should have the freedom to set the tax where they need it to be.
Some certainty for a number of years is the minimum requirement for local authorities.
The General Election turned into a bidding war and there were some services involved which local authorities still have a hand in. However, generally authorities need to be allowed to recover from austerity and run effective services for their residents.
There would seem to be an urgent need to review the funding of children’s services where almost all relevant authorities are regularly overspending.
In any case, I hope that all readers will have an enjoyable and untroubled Christmas and that the New Year will indeed be a joyous revelation.
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