Lib Dem Conference Backs Localism Motion

Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference reiterated its commitment to devolving power to local people and called for the Government to be ambitious in its plans for decentralisation.

Conference today passed a motion calling for:

· The strengthening of local authorities to give local people more power in their communities.
· The freeing up of local administration by ending detailed central control.
· Giving local government financial autonomy and more revenue-raising powers.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Minister for Communities and Local Government Andrew Stunell said: “Localism is in the Liberal Democrats’ DNA, and today we have once again demonstrated our commitment to putting power back in the hands of people on the ground, not bureaucrats in Whitehall.

“Different communities have different needs – what works in Windsor won’t necessarily work in Warrington, and this principle will be central to the forthcoming Localism and Decentralisation Bill.

“For too long, local government has been run in a command and control fashion from Whitehall. What Liberal Democrats in government are doing now is setting councils free from top-down diktats and allowing local people to have a real say in local decisions.”

Localism

Conference deplores the way that power has been shifted away from local communities and towards ever more centralised forms of government, public services and enterprise over the past 40 years.

Conference in particular regrets that these centralising trends in government have contributed to the frustration of community voluntary activity, the erosion of local economies and the weakening of local life and institutions more broadly.

It is a fundamental Liberal principle that power should be spread as widely as possible. Conference therefore welcomes the announcement in the coalition government’s first Queen’s Speech that a Decentralisation and Localism Bill will be presented to Parliament in the autumn.

Conference, however, calls on the coalition government to be more ambitious and take further opportunities to revitalise neighbourhoods, by:

1. Empowering local democracy – Since local people are the experts in their own neighbourhoods and their own needs, the role of existing local authorities needs to be strengthened, and bodies representing smaller communities, local civil society and the community voluntary sector need to be given much greater support.

2. Proportional representation should be introduced for local government elections in England.

3. Freeing up local administration – Frontline staff and public service professionals must be freed from detailed central control so that they can match services to local needs. The administration of health, the police and where appropriate the justice system must be made more responsive and accountable to the communities they serve, with administrative boundaries aligned to those of local authorities so as to promote effective coordination and
integration of local services.

4. Encouraging local economics and enterprise – Localism depends also on a diverse local economy, less dependent on the direction and support of Whitehall, on the branches of national and multinational companies or on City of London finance. In the long run, successful local economies need a bedrock of local innovation, local enterprise, local energy, and a lending network capable of providing the necessary capital for local business, social enterprise and other endeavour.

5. Moving towards financial autonomy for local government – Central government control of local government finance has been the mechanism through which detailed Whitehall management of local government has been imposed. We set ourselves the long-term target of achieving 75% of local government spending being raised locally, with provision for equalisation. We call for the immediate return of business rates to local government, for a transparent annual process of negotiation between representatives of local authorities and the Treasury on the allocation of central funding to local government, and for the coalition government to adopt as a priority the transfer of other revenue streams to local authority control.