Soapbox Sarah Russell: Government localism means tidying up a financial mess
WHEN the Government talked about localism, the implication was that it meant giving people and organisations the choice about how to run services in their communities.
Sadly, the reality has been quite different. Nothing exposes that better than the council tax local support scheme.
I have no issue with the city council taking responsibility for the provision of council tax support. Far from it, I would much prefer decisions about supporting Derby's most vulnerable to be taken by a Labour council here rather than a Tory-led Government.
What I object to, though, is the poisoned chalice that Derby City Council, and every other local authority in England and Wales, has been handed.
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The Government took the budget it spent on council tax support in Derby for 2012-13, sliced 10% from it, and then passed the buck for us to sort out the sorry mess.
So the Treasury pockets the savings and instructs councils to do the dirty work. But let's not be under any illusion – these cuts were created in Whitehall.
In these times of cuts, it is bad enough having to make difficult decisions.
But at least we can normally comfort ourselves, and Derby's residents, with the knowledge that we have had to make a decision on the grounds of priority, that a service cut in one area has saved another elsewhere.
That comfort does not exist with the council tax support scheme. We can't reflect on the 10% saving to the budget because it was not Derby's saving to start with.
The axed budget was handed down as a fait accompli. Derby people pay the price for this Government cut but see no benefit.
It's about as far away from true localism as you can imagine. We have worked hard to try to make the scheme as fair as possible under the circumstances.
We could not right the Government's wrong but we could try to ensure the imposition of the cut, which pensioners are exempt from, was as equitable and consistent as it could be for working age households.
That has been achieved, and as much has been done as possible by the council to make the imposition of the Government's cut as painless as it can be.
But we should not kid ourselves that we ever had the power to cover all the cracks this disastrous Tory scheme has created.
6 Comments
by wilfredF1
Thursday, March 07 2013, 5:08PM
“I still await for our Labour councillors and MPs to offer apologies for the financial mess that we were left with in 2010 after 13 years of mis-mangement.
All they seem to do is deny and hope we will not remember what they did.
I am sure the DT would be very happy to publish their articles asking for forgiveness.”
by keepr_dylocal
Wednesday, March 06 2013, 7:16PM
“The decision by the current administration to charge the poorest and most vulnerable of our City 20% Council Tax is deplorable.
However, no one should be under any delusion - had the Conservatives taken control in the last local elections, there would have been decisions made that were equally deplorable.
In the DT article of 1st February (http://tinyurl.com/buh958n) Councillor Bayliss says the grant would have been the equivalent of a 1% rise in Council Tax; Councillor Hickson says the grant should have been accepted and the Council look for other ways to make the savings.
Does anyone seriously consider this would have been by making "the council more efficient, streamlining it, using new technology, so that we get back on an even keel when the funding comes to an end" rather than targeting those areas already disproportionately cut already?”
by Derby_born
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 9:38PM
“Sarah Russel says "I would much prefer decisions about supporting Derby's most vulnerable to be taken by a Labour council here rather than a Tory-led. Government". That would be a Labour Council that refused to accept a grant from the Government and decided instead to increase Council tax, screwing 20% of the tax out of the most vulnerable, those on means tested benefits and the lowest incomes! Let us hope that people remember what you did, come the next local elections in 2014.”
by Ronfromderby
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 6:01PM
“What an unfortunate day to have your letter published Sarah, when the Derby Telegraph has discovered that, "Six trees and their planters bought to stand outside Derby's refurbished Council House cost taxpayers nearly £50,000 – and now they will not be used outside the building at all".
You could not make it up, could you!”
by janine2011
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 11:14AM
“What part of the note left behind by the last Labour Government saying sorry there is no money we have spent it does Sarah Russell not understand? Perhaps if this council wasn't intent on spending on their own pet projects there wouldn't need to be such drastic cuts. But this Labour and their policy is spend, spend, spend. Unfotunately not on services they should retain.”
by NewForOld
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 8:10AM
“Every Goverment I remember did the same thing as this goverment and each time if the council's were not of the same party they blamed the other. I remember when there was a Labour Goverment introducing cuts, the difference being that no Labour Councillor wrote in to say much the same as in this letter. Unfortunately, neither Labour nor the Conservatives want to actually pass over local responsibility by handing over autonomy, they both prefer to control from the centre.”