Posted on 21/08/2009 at 16:55 by Nick Hurd
Tough times require us all to think harder about how we spend our money.
This should apply even more so for Government, because it is not their money that they are spending. For years we have gone along with the old model.
We work hard and pay most of our taxes into a central pot which Government then spends on our behalf.
We get very little information about what is done with our money or very little opportunity to influence priorities.
I do not think this model is sustainable in the modern age where information technology is empowering us in so many ways. Nor do I think this lack of transparency or accountability is healthy for our democracy.
We should be encouraging people to feel a sense of involvement and an opportunity to change things.
I am not alone in thinking that the times demand a change.
Two years ago I took through Parliament a Private Members Bill, now called the Sustainable Communities Act.
This achievement was only possible because of extraordinary cross-party support inside Parliament; encouraged by a unique coalition of 90 national organisations, ranging from the Women’s Institute to the Campaign for the Protection of Real Ale.
What brought us together was a common concern for the future of communities whose sustainability was threatened by the loss of key local services, such as post offices; bank branches and community shops.
We did not want a future of ghost town high streets and increasingly isolated communities where people do not bother getting involved because “ it’s not as if we can change anything”.
I know that Kent, in all its diversity, is not immune from this. Dartford has seen no less than five post offices close recently.
In Gravesham, 3,000 people signed a petition to keep a particular office but they closed it anyway. I am told that Margate now has the highest number of shops empty in the South East.
People feel that housing numbers are dictated by unelected quangocrats; gardens are being lost to concrete and the green belt threatened: yet locally elected politicians appear to have very limited powers.
Meanwhile, quangos such as the South East England Regional Assembly and the South East England Development Agency operate across a vast area that has little in common except the inability to hold them to account.
What is the alternative? Supporters of the Sustainable Communities Act believe Government needs to accept our argument that when it comes to the future of communities, local people know best.
We need to be given more information about what is being done in our name and greater freedom to challenge it if we feel that there are more pressing local priorities.
As a result of the Act, English local authorities have been invited to consult with the communities they serve and submit their ideas for new powers needed to help them promote more sustainable communities.
I am delighted that around a third, including Kent County Council, have acted on this invitation and submitted bold proposals for change.
The second pillar of the Act was a requirement on Government to publish ‘Local Spending Reports’ that would give us a breakdown of all public expenditure (as far as practical) in our area.
I believe that transparency is the friend of much-needed efficiency, and frankly the vast ecosystem of quangos and government agencies that has evolved, needs to be dragged out of the shadows and submitted to a harsh spotlight of public accountability.
Furthermore, if a taxpayer funded agency such as Business Link cannot persuade local communities in Kent that it is doing a good enough job supporting local businesses then it should lose its budget and someone else given the chance to do a better job.
This is not about increasing the size of public expenditure, but ensuring that it is spent in the most efficient way that is responsive to local priorities.
It will not surprise the cynics that the Government has backtracked on this commitment. This is a mistake as the furore over MP expenses shows the British people have developed a taste for more transparency in how taxpayers’ money is being spent.
So over the coming months, we will be pressing the Government to honour its promises and ‘show us the money!”.
If you agree, please write to your local MP and ask them to support the campaign, not least by signing Early Day Motion 1064 on Local Spending Reports.
• Nick Hurd is the Tory MP for Ruislip and Northwood