Probing the power question
The Hearth — By WalesHome on February 1, 2010 10:00 amWE’VE heard a lot about localism lately and, if as predicted, David Cameron’s Conservatives win the imminent General Election we’ll be hearing a lot more. The Tory leader has outlined a trenchant critique of an overweening and inefficient state in need a drastic redistribution of power from the centre to the local. At the same time, as last week’s frantic activity showed, the debate about devolution in Wales rages on.
So where should control reside in today’s Wales? What does localism mean, and how practical is it? Should the distribution of power follow well-designed public service delivery, or vice versa? Will our media be able to adapt? What about the UK level and how it should work under perhaps greater devolution? This week, we’ll be publishing our 250th Daily Column as well our 500th post overall, so we thought we’d do it with a loose series of articles that explore these questions.
We hope you enjoy.
Tags: devolution, local government
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3 Comments
A question, related to the political Pandora’s box outlined above, that has not been answered satisfactorily is:
“What are the differences between the people of Wales and the remainder of people in the UK that make it imperative to have different laws; is it necessary to have lawmaking powers?”
I see the need to have local decision making regarding spending, local needs can vary quite noticeably between adjacent constituencies, but law making specific to Wales creates difference, and it is this difference that is the very thin edge of the Welsh separatist wedge that troubles me.
I believe, I hope, the David Cameron vision of localism refers to budgetary control, not governance.
Localism means nothing if it does not include handing real power (sovereignty) to local authorities which would imply federalism (Remember as Anthony Hunt pointed out to me the UK is still a unitary state). I dont really understand John Tyler’s point about budgetary control? Central or local government? In fact is this truly localism or suggest anti devolution rhetoric.
On another point I saw Cameron being intrviewd on CNN yesterday afternoon. He was applauding Obama’s actions on the US economy which has American conservatives violently shaking their heads because of the enormous deficit and how our children will be paying for it. Yet he has criticized Labour’s own stimulus package, which seems to be far smaller relatively.
Hypocrisy possibly
A man should be judged by his actions not just his words. If he wants to distribute power why is he aiming to keep the Infrastructure Planning Committee in place if the conservatives gain power.