Charles Kennedy

Liberal Democrats | Ross Skye & Lochaber

Kennedy: Localism Is About Crafting A New Contract Between The Public And Politicians

In a keynote speech hosted by the Institute of Public Policy Research, Charles Kennedy will warn that if we do not ‘break down the monolithic centralism that has been imposed by both Labour and Conservative Governments’ Britain will face a ‘crisis of innovation in public services.’

Mr Kennedy will demonstrate that Britain is one of the most centralised countries in the democratic world: “Britain as a whole elects just over 21,000 local representatives to govern us at a local level, but they are outnumbered almost three times over by 60,000 people appointed to run the 5,000 or so quangos.”

Centralism means that “Government money comes laced with management targets. Local authorities are effectively bound by national targets and priorities, set by people with no direct understanding of local difficulties. The people who deal best with the complexity of front-line services are sidelined and disempowered.”

Mr Kennedy will explain that the Liberal Democrats favour localism as it devolves power and financial responsibility, stating “our tax commission is looking at ways to reshape the tax system to give councils the financial freedom they need.”

Mr Kennedy will use examples of health and education to illustrate that decentralisation will give people back power and in turn, responsibility- giving them a real say in local services. “Accountability and activity in the NHS should be radically decentralised so that local people know what’s going on in their local health service. If one local idea for running that local health service doesn’t work, others with better ideas will be elected to replace them.”

Mr Kennedy will highlight how decentralisation promotes individual responsibility: “Liberal Democrat localism is about crafting a new contract between the public and politicians. We Liberal Democrats believe in active citizenship. This means making patients, parents and pupils partners in their health care or in their education. That is why we have proposed regular health “MoTs” tailored to individual patients’ needs, with wider access to screening and blood pressure and cholesterol tests.”

Mr Kennedy will criticise the Government’s education white paper, stating Labour’s reforms are all about increasing Whitehall diktat over schools. The Liberal Democrats “want local authorities to be real commissioners – procuring education from diverse providers but with the financial clout to decide what they want to commission.”

“We want to maximise real choice in education. That must begin with the curriculum – especially for the 14 to 19 age range, where young adults are making decisions about the education they want to pursue. Our education team under Ed Davey is working on proposals to put Tomlinson into practice, focusing on putting pupil choice at the heart of future learning.”