May 2011 Election

[ICTChris]

Regarding education, from the scotsman article I read, they made the point that education was council controlled because once upon a time, the cooncils were effectively the only Scottish specific democracy, and with the rise of the parliament, their role should change and education should be centralised. I have a lot of sympathy for that view.

Do local councils in England and Wales not control education? I don't think centralising control of Scottish education in Edinburgh is particularly attractive. Democracy is best done locally, it's just a shame that so many local councils are so utterly useless - witness Edinburgh councils eye gouging uselessness is just about everything it attempts to do.

[xbl]

As far as I can gather, its different down there. I dunno how, I've been up since midday yesterday, my level of debate isn't sparkling. Anyway, you could argue that England still lacks true representation, unless you make England and Britain into interchangeable terms...

[Reynard]

There is a good case for removing party politics at council level, councils are surely a primarily managerial concern, rather than ideological. Thus it is surely a matter of selecting the correct individuals for the job, rather than by party bias.

I'd hand more control to them and bring as much decision making to local level as possible. The trouble with councils now is the demise of the independent councillor. They used to be guys that were genuinely interested in their area, who worked hard in their community, maybe ran a business in the area and had some sort of idea about trade and commerce. They did all their council work for expenses and that was it.

Nowadays we have genuine political c***s placed in particular seats because they licked enough of the right arse or delivered enough leaflets for someone "important". Councillors have no freedom to decide what happens locally any more. That was done away with many years ago. They all get their orders centrally from whatever parties central office they happen to be a member of. They are also now salaried for these councillor posts which isn't a good idea as it then becomes a job for yet more party hacks to land.

It's not necessarily the parties faults for the politicising of it all, the electorate also decided to vote along party lines for their various morons.

The centralising of political power and decision making is entirely bad. I would also scrap the Scottish parliament while I was at it. It's another unnecessary tier of government. Get it local, get it as small s possible and as accountable as possible to the punter in the street.

[Ad Lib]

I struggle to disagree with anything in Reynard's post. Councils are a complete travesty at the moment, but if you depoliticised them and made them more responsible for raising the bulk of their own budgets they would be infinitely more accountable than either how they are at the moment, or indeed how Holyrood or Westminster are.

[H_B]

I'd hand more control to them and bring as much decision making to local level as possible. The trouble with councils now is the demise of the independent councillor. They used to be guys that were genuinely interested in their area, who worked hard in their community, maybe ran a business in the area and had some sort of idea about trade and commerce. They did all their council work for expenses and that was it.

Nowadays we have genuine political c***s placed in particular seats because they licked enough of the right arse or delivered enough leaflets for someone "important". Councillors have no freedom to decide what happens locally any more. That was done away with many years ago. They all get their orders centrally from whatever parties central office they happen to be a member of. They are also now salaried for these councillor posts which isn't a good idea as it then becomes a job for yet more party hacks to land.

It's not necessarily the parties faults for the politicising of it all, the electorate also decided to vote along party lines for their various morons.

The centralising of political power and decision making is entirely bad. I would also scrap the Scottish parliament while I was at it. It's another unnecessary tier of government. Get it local, get it as small s possible and as accountable as possible to the punter in the street.

Yeah, I agree with that also.

My issues with councils is in exactly what you say above. I used to live across the road from my councillor when I was a nipper. Everyone knew who he was.

I don't have the first idea who my councillor is now. Not a clue. Probably some New Labour drone looking to become an MP in 20 years time.

[Ivo den Bieman]

How do you go about "depoliticising" them, though?

New legislation would be required to ban folk from standing on a party ticket. It would be the same gammon-faced haddies standing and just not declaring party affiliation, anyway.

It also suggests that the "good" of a local area is decided on clear and objective criteria which of course isn't the case. there are as many different views on what constitutes the "good" of a local area as what constitutes a "good" for the country as a whole.

I am as frustrated as the next person with the number of time served self-serving balloons that fill up every local council chamber. Not sure that banning party tickets from standing is necessarily the answer. Party tickets dominate elections because folk are too apathetic or too busy with their own lives to get off their arses and do it differently. The domination of local elections by local political parties, often elected on a pathetic sub-30% turnout, is a consequence of political disengagement, and the all too easy "all politicians are c***s" viewpoint, which doesn;t actually help change political culture for the better.

[ICTChris]

It's a difficult situation to change. Even Highland Council, who I imagine used to run at very high percentages of independents, now has a majority aligned to a party.

[Ad Lib]

How do you go about "depoliticising" them, though?

New legislation would be required to ban folk from standing on a party ticket. It would be the same gammon-faced haddies standing and just not declaring party affiliation, anyway.

I've never voted in a Council election, but am I right in saying that the ballot paper is the same as other elections (i.e. if someone represents a party they're listed as such)?

I would have thought that a new ballot design showing only a person's name might help to make party affiliation less effective. Stricter limits on candidate expenditure would also help independents with fewer resources to call on.

It might be an idea to have direct election of mayors to lead councils as well? Obviously there's a risk of parties simply latching unofficially onto a candidate but it seems to work in other countries.

[Ivo den Bieman]

1. Yes, parties show on the ballot paper. Banning the declaration of party affiliation would be an interesting experiment.

2. IMO elected mayors simply cost the taxpayer more and in any case are likely to encourage rather than limit the involvement of political parties at local level. I'm totally opposed to the idea of elected mayors.

[xbl]

Going back briefly to the Gray farce, is anyone willing to defend the BBC's decision to pretend the whole thing never happened?

[uni]

Going back briefly to the Gray farce, is anyone willing to defend the BBC's decision to pretend the whole thing never happened?

Do you think there is some sort of an anti-SNP conspiracy? "Teh BBC r Inglish scum!" First the live debates now this. Grow up.

[ICTChris]

I don't Montenegrogate is a big story and I'm not particularly surprised that the BBC didn't give it much coverage.

[Reynard]

1. Yes, parties show on the ballot paper. Banning the declaration of party affiliation would be an interesting experiment.

2. IMO elected mayors simply cost the taxpayer more and in any case are likely to encourage rather than limit the involvement of political parties at local level. I'm totally opposed to the idea of elected mayors.

That's the way I'd have done it too. The folk that actually do go out and vote at local elections tend to vote anyway regardless. They probably vote along party lines as well and aren't much interested in what actually goes on in their local town hall either. It would be quite funny to kick away the party names and maybe force folk to delve slightly deeper and possibly force the councillor to go and see the folk he is representing. Its not as if local wards are particularly vast either.

[Reynard]

Going back briefly to the Gray farce, is anyone willing to defend the BBC's decision to pretend the whole thing never happened?

I couldn't really care less.

Most of the stuff going on in the Scottish Parliament isn't very newsworthy anyway. Neither is this.

[Ad Lib]

1. Yes, parties show on the ballot paper. Banning the declaration of party affiliation would be an interesting experiment.

2. IMO elected mayors simply cost the taxpayer more and in any case are likely to encourage rather than limit the involvement of political parties at local level. I'm totally opposed to the idea of elected mayors.

I don't have a strong view about mayors. It was just an idea as I know in the US there's usually more independent character to mayor figures even if they are nominally affiliated to a party. It wouldn't have to be paid any differently from a local councillor, but it would perhaps raise the profile of local candidates running on local issues. It might encourage more activism and accountability of those making decisions nearest the coalface.

Going back briefly to the Gray farce, is anyone willing to defend the BBC's decision to pretend the whole thing never happened?

The BBC's News provision is just the TV wing of The Guardian so I don't especially care.

[xbl]

Do you think there is some sort of an anti-SNP conspiracy? "Teh BBC r Inglish scum!" First the live debates now this. Grow up.

Explain why they have totally banked it then.

I don't Montenegrogate is a big story and I'm not particularly surprised that the BBC didn't give it much coverage.

But this wasn't limited coverage, it was like it never happened at all! It made the front of the biggest Scottish Sunday paper, occupied prominent positions in others, including the English press, and yet the BBC, despite covering plenty of other non stories, pretended that this whole thing never happened. I think it is appalling, and at best, poor journalism and news management. At worst, its clear bias, from a public funded organisation who are supposed to be impartial. Either way, questions should be asked.

[Reynard]

Explain why they have totally banked it then.

But this wasn't limited coverage, it was like it never happened at all! It made the front of the biggest Scottish Sunday paper, occupied prominent positions in others, including the English press, and yet the BBC, despite covering plenty of other non stories, pretended that this whole thing never happened. I think it is appalling, and at best, poor journalism and news management. At worst, its clear bias, from a public funded organisation who are supposed to be impartial. Either way, questions should be asked.

The BBC are not impartial.

[xbl]

Aha. But they are supposed to be. Is it wrong to continue to point out the failings of the bbc, particularly when it comes to their blatant left wing unionist bias in scotland?

[capybara]

There is a good case for removing party politics at council level, councils are surely a primarily managerial concern, rather than ideological. Thus it is surely a matter of selecting the correct individuals for the job, rather than by party bias.

While i can agree with this , the problem with "Independents" in the past ,is that many of them were not truly independent. Many were Tories in disguise.

[renton]

XBL, I dug around for some Scottish labour policy for you. Iain Gray's New year message seems to trail a few policies that will probably appear in the manifesto:

Scotland deserves better in 2011. However we face an anxious and uncertain New Year. So many people are worried about jobs and the future of their families as the full impact of the Tory-led government cuts hit home.

Meanwhile Scotland has been let down badly after four wasted years by the SNP government as Alex Salmond leaves behind a legacy of failure.

We had the lowest unemployment rate in Britain when the SNP took over in 2007, but now it is the highest. This would be bad enough in good times but in these tough times it is unpardonable.

But we have the chance to make a change. In the Scottish elections in May jobs will be Labour’s priority.

If I become First Minister my commitment is to create more jobs to equip Scotland for a 21st century global economy and protect the ones we have.

Our young people also deserve hope for the future and that’s why Labour will guarantee an apprenticeship for every qualified school leaver who wants one. We will also set up a Future Jobs Fund to provide 10,000 new jobs and a Living Wage so no one in work is left behind.

The quality of life is crucial in a fair and just society and that is why we will bring about the most radical change in care for elderly and disabled people since the NHS was set up with a new National Care Service.

It is also why we have campaigned on knife crime and literacy. Our aim is to make our streets safer and ensure that no longer will one-in-five of our young people leave school unable to read or write properly.

These are just some of the changes I promise because, as I said, Scotland deserves better. We can make it happen this year with your support.

A lot of fluff obviously, and some silly politicking at the top, but there seems to be the odd policy coming through. An apprenticeship for anyone who wnats one - costly I'd imagine, requires a lot of investment from private industry to work but admirable for all that. Surely you can see a seed of decent policy there?

The living wage is a good policy, obviously limited to public workers to start with, again, will wait and see how that one is supposed to be funded.

The National Care Service: Right out of Andy Burnham's playbook when he was health secretary. Assuming it follows the same lines it'll be interesting to see how they implement it.

The Future Jobs Fund, I thought that already existed?

So a few nuggets there, of course, the trick is in funding, what will they cut to implement these policies, and what will they freeze.... to me, to implement that all at a time when the coaliton are sending us off a very big cliff seems optimistic at best, even implementing one of these porperly will mean a lot of money.

On the up side, they are, when seen in isolaiton, all admirable policies. Scottish Labour might be cursed with gray, but they do have access to the wider UK party, most of these are part of a wider concensus in the party brain trust.