Local Government and Local Governance Introduction Almost all

Local Government and Local Governance

Introduction • Almost all countries, regardless of their system of government, have some form of sub-national government, usually known as ‘local government’. • Local government is the lowest level of territorial government within a state. • While often dismissed as unimportant or mainly ‘low politics’, in truth, “All politics is local” (US Senate Leader, Tip O’Neill) • “Local government is where the day to day activity of politics and government gets done” (Teune, 1995).

• Systems of local government vary across time and space, depending in large part on the nature of the state - unitary or federal, centralised or decentralised, consolidated or fragmented, two-tier or unitary. • In unitary states, defining the public authority - dual or fused? The role of local government within the state. • Other important factors to be considered include: – Legal capacity and competence within the state – Functions and responsibilities – Structural configuration – Electoral process – Internal management of local authorities – Financial arrangements – Central-local government relations

Arguments for local government • Choice and responsiveness to local needs • Liberty & pluralism, diffusing power (de Tocqueville) • Popular participation in decision-making • Efficiency of administration - centralisation fails • Subsidiarity - effective multi-level governance • Educator (JS Mill); keeps the parties ‘in trim’

Local Government in the United Kingdom • Traditionally, local government in the UK has been a dual system with a formal separation of central and local government. • A spirit of federalism - local authorities subordinate to parliament but not part of a single state structure. • Creatures of Parliament - created, amended and abolished at the will of Parliament. Ultra vires. • A non-executant state in which the centre sets and finances the policy agenda but local councils implement policy in a centrallocal partnership.

• Political legitimacy - democratically elected local authorities, more than simply local administration. • A degree of fiscal autonomy - limited power to raise their own revenue through council tax (on property). • Local government is big: – almost 500 multi-functional organisations – over 2 million employees with each authority often being the largest employer in its locality – budgets exceed £ 90 bn (1/4 of all government spending) & often dwarfing those of multinational companies - even overseas countries’ economies. – large owners of assets - council housing, schools, libraries, other public infrastructure (e. g. roads) etc

• Severe centralisation from late 1970 s has eroded local councils’ discretion, undermining their integrity. – Responsibilities change over time but several key functions have been removed. – Fiscal autonomy sharply attenuated (tax capping) – Restructuring and consolidation (abolition) – Compulsory Competitive Tendering & Privatisation – A new magistracy (appointed state/quangocracy) • No Minister for the Interior - local government has a weak position within central government. Presently within the Office of Deputy Prime Minister (England) and devolved elsewhere in UK. • From local government to local administration within a looser more fragmented system of governance?

Functions and Responsibilities • Local authorities have a range of functions and responsibilities, the nature of which is determined and shaped by central government. • Provision tends to be either of local public services (such as refuse collection & street lighting etc) and implementation of national welfare policies (such as primary and secondary education & social services). • From provider to enabler? From voter to consumer? • Protective - police, fire and consumer protection

• Environmental - highways, public transport, planning, waste collection and disposal, public cleansing • Personal - education, social services and housing • Recreational - parks, sports, museums, galleries • Promotional - economic regeneration and tourism • Regulatory - trading standards, environmental health • Trading/Commercial - formerly utilities such as gas, electricity, water and telephones but now v. limited.

Education – the biggest service provided by local councils in GB

Public sector ‘Council Housing’ – largest item of capital spending

And a range of other vital public services

Structural Configuration • 1835 - Municipal Corporations Act formalised ancient ‘shires’, ‘boroughs’ & other units of local government. • 1880 s-90 s Two tier structure of counties & districts, plus unitary county boroughs in major towns & cities • 1963 - London local government reformed - new GLC • 1960 s - Royal Commissions on major reform • 1972 -75 Broadly uniform two-tier structure throughout GB based on counties & districts (regions & districts in Scotland) though Northern Ireland diverged markedly.

• 1986 - Abolition of GLC and Metropolitan Counties • 1992 - Local Government Commission - unitary councils for Scotland, Wales and much of England • 1999 - New Greater London Authority and directly elected Mayor. Elected mayors for other cities, too. • 1999 - Devolution and English regionalisation pose new challenges to the existing structure. • Structural arrangements reflect political expediency and crude calculations of party control in many cases. • Considerations of local identity, efficiency, democracy, economies of scale and topography shape structure.

Scottish local government post-1996 – 32 unitary councils

Welsh local government post-1992 – 22 unitary councils

Elections and Councillors • Independents used to dominate local elections as there was “no Labour or Tory way of laying drains”. Reorganisation encouraged party competition post-74 • National political parties now dominate local elections. • Local elections tend to reflect voters’ assessment of the national situation rather than local conditions. • Local government became highly ideological during the 1970 s & 80 s. Labour dominated councils in the Conservative’s domination of national government but, with Labour in power, a swing back to Conservative councils, plus a growing number of Liberal Democrat and ‘hung’ councils with no party in overall control.

The people decide – those that turn out to vote, that is!

From local to national government and politics

• Councillors are elected: – for a fixed term of four years (renewable terms); – elections by wholes or by parts (rotation 1/3 per yr); – ‘first past the post’ electoral system; and, – Turnout at local elections is low at c. 35 -40%, and as low as 6% in some inner city wards. • Councillors are unpaid but have attendance allowance • How representative are the representatives? Male, elderly/middleaged, white, few from AB social groups. • Reinvigorating local democracy - all annual elections, directlyelected mayors, mobile polling stations, electronic voting, local referendums, Sunday polling, postal voting, neighbourhood councils.

Financing the System • Local government finance always highly controversial. • Capital and current (or revenue) expenditure. • Capital spending financed largely by borrowing from and strictly controlled by central government. • Current spending financed by central government grants; rents, fees & charges; and local taxation. • Grants are designed to help ease the burden on local taxpayer while equalising for variation in local spending needs and resource raising capacities.

He who pays the piper calls the tune

“We must put these people down” You can’t play politics with people’s jobs and services Liverpool, Labour and the Government 1983 -86

• “He who pays the piper calls the tune” - dependence by local authorities on central government grant exposes them to central pressure and leaves them vulnerable to grant cuts, forcing up local tax levels. • Historically, system of local taxation based on rental values of property - the rates, the oldest form of tax: – “Taxes are paid in sorrow, rates are paid in anger” – The Poll Tax & nationalisation of business rates; & – Council Tax - based on capital valuations. • Prospects for reform - a local income tax? A local sales tax? Abolition of local taxation altogether? • Higher rents and extension of user fees & charges.

Taxes are paid in sorrow, rates in anger. Many didn’t pay the poll tax at all, some rioted in protest

Internal Management • Local authorities are managed politically by a collective body acting corporately - the full Council. • Councils chaired by a mayor (ceremonial in nature) or given direction by the ‘Leader of the Council’. • Powerful committees, dominated by the controlling party group, oversee most council business. • Implementation of policy rests with professional appointees and a public bureaucracy at local level. • Directly-elected mayors (common overseas) working alongside a council have been promoted as a way of reinvigorating local government & public interest.

Local Government under Labour • 1998 - Modern Local Government White Paper and 1999 - Local Government Act scrapped ‘Compulsory Competitive Tendering’ in favour of ‘Best Value’. • 2001 - Strong Local Leadership, Quality Public Services White Paper. – ‘Sharing the turf’ - Councils as a local focus within a more plural fragmented system of governance with public, private and voluntary sector provision; – partnership arrangements including PFI; – more ‘joined up’ government initiatives; – the ‘Beacon Council’ scheme with a power of general competence possibly replacing ultra vires in certain limited cases of ‘good behaviour’; and, – councils in a strategic role coordinating services.

The Position in Northern Ireland • Previous system paralleled England & Wales but administrative & financial weaknesses, plus political corruption in jobs, housing and voting led to change. • 1970 Macrory Report - Stormont as a regional council and a series of single-tier councils for minor services. • Under Direct Rule, the 1973 reorganisation created 26 unitary councils with minor powers plus expansion of quangos for services like education & social care (area boards), with housing, water and highways vested in provincial boards or central government departments. A ‘democratic deficit’ resulted. • 2002 Review of Public Administration ongoing.

The current structure in NI

Conclusions • Local government is often a forgotten backwater for students of government, being regarded as ‘boring’. • In fact, for most people, their most frequent and widespread contact with government is at local level as local government services affect almost everyone. • Two decades of reform, restructuring and restriction have left local government in the UK much weaker in power & status, while creating a new system of local governance in which unelected central government appointed quangos now provide many erstwhile council services – NI is the limiting case of such central control. • Questions of form, function and finance frequently cause major arguments within and between central and local government, occasionally dominating the national agenda, and even toppling a Prime Minister!