11th May 2002

Most of the media coverage of last week's local elections concentrated on turnout, the BNP and a couple of unexpected results in the election for Mayor which made the headlines, but the real issue about the future of local government hardly merited any serious comment, yet that is the problem that has to be tackled if we are to have effective democratic control of the communities where we live.

"Gas and Water Socialism" as it was known once flourished and Councils provided a wide range of services which people really needed, including municipal hospitals, schools, bus services, electricity, and houses which were essential for millions of residents who could not afford to buy.

After the last war, over 300,000 houses a year were built to replace those destroyed by bombing and the old slums which disfigured our towns and denied so many families the opportunity to live in dignity and have the space necessary to bring up their children, some moved to pre-fabs which were quite popular at the time, others to tower blocks which were not, and most to really good homes well designed and constructed.

As an MP, doing my weekly surgeries, many of the problems brought to me related to housing and, although the waiting lists got longer, the housing manager was usually able to respond quite quickly to an urgent appeal for help, up until the sale of council houses reduced the stock at the disposal of the council.

A right to buy, for everyone, sounded so attractive and councils had always been ready to consider applications to buy, even before the new policy came in, but were required to take account of local need before doing so, then, quite quickly, their stock of available stock fell and replacement building came to a virtual standstill, except for old peoples bungalows

Those who took out a mortgage to buy became home buyers and not really home owners and now - to add insult to injury - some who did buy have discovered that they may have to sell them again to pay the cost of care in old age, which is an outrage.

Councils were once assured by Labour that the money raised when they sold their houses, would be available to build new ones, were then told that the money must go on repairs, and now, this government is positively encouraging them to hold referenda to authorize the transfer the whole of their council housing to Housing Associations which are exempt from democratic control.

This is the most blatant example of near-privatization and some tenants have gone along with it on the grounds that these associations are supposed to be non-profit making, and have an obligation to provide for affordable housing to be included in their development plans, but recently, in Birmingham a scheme of this kind was defeated, which indicated that enough people knew what it was really about and voted accordingly.

In London, where massive new high cost luxury apartments are going up all over the place, house prices are rising at an astronomic rate and one Housing association has been told that the definition of an affordable house is one priced at below £200,000, which is far beyond what a young teacher or nurse, or low paid worker could possibly afford, which may explain why we cannot recruit the staff we need for the NHS or our schools.

Councils should be able to build enough houses to meet their local needs and indeed to undertake any project which is, in their opinion, necessary for the community they serve, borrowing at a preferential rate for that purpose, as once used to happen, and all the restrictions placed on them by the Tories and unwisely retained by this government, should be removed.

If that were done the vitality of local democracy would be restored and local people would feel that they were being represented and not, as now, being managed by local councillors, on behalf of the Treasury, which would like to control every last penny spent and keep the total down to the minimum to satisfy the Bankers in Frankfurt who, under the Maastricht Treaty, supervise our economy without having been elected by anybody.

Unless we do liberate local authorities to do the job that people expect of them we cannot be surprised to find that crank candidates get elected and many, who should vote, do not do so, out of cynicism or despair, for that is the opening that the BNP have been waiting for, to exploit local grievances by blaming asylum seekers many of whom are themselves victims of global capitalism just as much as they are.

Having local Mayors invested with huge executive powers will also reduce their accountability to those they serve, and could even open the way to corruption, as, in America, where some councils only meet once a year to allocate contracts, with nothing much else to do.

And this is where privatization comes in, at the local level, councils being forced to put out more work to tender allowing private firms to employ staff at lower wages and with poorer conditions, who can undercut the in-house bids and lead to redundancies among experienced and committed public servants who know the job and do it conscientiously and well.

It is absurd to argue for devolution and keep local councils restricted, by law, in what they are now allowed to do, while private businesses can do anything provided it is not illegal and if Ministers really believed in local democracy the remedy lies with them.

Gas and Water Socialism, and more, could be the best way to boost the turnout, end cynicism and keep out the cranks and racists who otherwise may creep in by the back door.

10/5/02