I’ve just trawled through Nick Clegg’s speech on localism to the LGA today. A few thoughts: 1. He lets the Tories off too easily (unintentionally I’m sure). He is of course perfectly right to give them a hard time for refusing to even contemplate devolving spending, but the truth is it’s far, far worse than… Continue reading Clegg and localism: early thoughts
Tag: localism
Localism: the first big test?
The battlelines over localism are being formed in Scotland. What happens there directly affects the debate over decentralisation in England. I haven’t been following this closely but my understanding is this: the SNP, which over time plan to replace council tax with a system of local income tax, have worked out a deal with local… Continue reading Localism: the first big test?
Polly Toynbee – where do I start?
Polly Toynbee is waging her war against local democracy once again, insisting that only centralised super-states can be socially progressive and blithely ignoring the fact that all the Scandinavian countries she worships so much are far more decentralised that we can even dream. This week, she has come up with the bizarre hypothesis that ‘localism’… Continue reading Polly Toynbee – where do I start?