Local Government and how it could be better.

So according to the news on the third of May some of the UK’s major cities – Bristol, Liverpool and Wakefield among them – will be holding a referendum to decide if they want to have an elected Mayor, London style,  to oversee the administration of these mighty conurbations. I quite like this idea.

Then, because my brain is a weird and wonderful place,  I moved from thinking about what a great idea elected Mayors would be (especially as up north they would be form a block of Labour strongholds) and onto the issue of local government. Or, more precisely, why local government doesn’t work.

You see local government is quite complex animal in the UK, made up as it is of a mix of boroughs, unitary authorities and metropolitan areas.  Now while I’m sure they do a good job (I mean the country is still standing so they must be) I do feel as if they are neither very accountable nor very well known. I would bet you any money you like that if asked people would be unable to name their local councillors. Now when it comes to representative democracy and making decisions on behalf of the people I don’t really think that’s good enough.

These two thoughts – local government and the concept of elected mayors – then came together to form the nucleus of a new local government strategy. A strategy that would be both representative and effective. 

Firstly we need to abolish the current mix of unitary authorities and metropolitan areas, instead setting up London style assemblies and assembly wards across the country. Some counties such as Yorkshire may have to be split into two or three assemblies but mostly these could be done along county lines. Then the residents of those wards would elect members to sit on those assemblies. They would also elect a Mayor to chair the Assembly as is done in London. The Mayor would then select from among the Assembly members a miniature cabinet, the members of which would be responsible for the overseeing of a specific department such as education, the budget or policing within the Assembly’s boundary. The rest of the Members would be responsible for acting as check on the cabinet, debating ideas that are put to  them. Essentially each Assembly would act as a miniature Parliament and would do what the current Councils do now, only there would be more of an obvious link between the residents and the members.

Of course there would still be room for the Westminster Parliament in this system. They would still draft the laws, set the budget and have overall control over hospitals, policing and schools. However the assemblies would implement these on a local level. In order to be truely accountable local decisions need to be made on a local level, similar to how state decisions are made by the State legislature in the US.  Also under this system if something happened within an assembly ward – such as the building of a new supermarket over a playing field – the first port of call would not be the MP but the Assembly Member. MP’s roles would relate to country wide problems. Also of course a period as an Assembly Member would serve as a good starting point for a career as an MP.

In conclusion I think under this system there would be far more accountability at the local level and a far better level of management. By devolving power to the regions, Westminster would be freed up to deal with the bigger picture.

Plus. I just think it would be more democratic.