Reviving Labour’s policy programme

July 3, 2008

James Hulme, NLGN
www.telegraph.co.uk

Last Friday I was invited to spend the morning with a group of Labour councillors discussing what ideas they should include in their party’s next manifesto. Whilst they weren’t exactly reaching for the party poppers to celebrate Gordon Brown’s anniversary in office, they were surprisingly less depressed than many Labour Party members I bump into in Westminster. As one councillor explained to me, “we have lots of good ideas, it’s just that none of you buggers in London listen to us”.

And he was right. In two hours we had a more inspired discussion than many of the Westminster-based debates organised by various left-wing pressure groups and think tanks (and I fully anticipate being thrown out of the think tank magic circle for saying so).

It turns out that Labour is full of ideas. Why not for instance tackle climate change by imposing a windfall tax on the obscene profits of the oil companies and use the money to make our homes more energy efficient? Or put the money into greener forms of energy? Or why not give councils control over local bus services to get more people onto public transport (apparently where bus companies are locally governed, such as London and Nottingham, services tend to be better).

Moreover, to help families hit by the credit crunch, why not allow councils to offer lower-rate mortgages to those under the threat of repossession (as councils can borrow money at a lower rate than banks)? This would allow families to stay in their homes and act as a revenue raising resource for councils.

Unsurprisingly, the “pay as you throw” rubbish schemes and proposals to insert microchips into householders’ bins proved as popular as Naomi Campbell at a BA staff party. It turns out apparently that people don’t like the idea of the local council sifting through their bins or fining them for not closing their bin properly.

Why not instead, encourage neighbourhoods to reduce the amount the throw away by offering financial incentives for improving their recycling rates or at least provide just one bin for rubbish, which the council can then take away and sort what can and can’t be recycled?

Then the conversation moved on to the equally popular Council Tax. Why, they wondered, couldn’t the Government take the initiative to show they are on people’s side by cutting their bills? A relatively small income tax increase on all income over £250,000 would only target the super-rich and could pay for an across the board cut of around £200 for all householders’ bills.

While we’re at it, why not allow councils to offer lower business rates to businesses they want to attract to their area (i.e. new office developments and business parks) and higher business rates on companies that might be detrimental to the area (i.e. fast food shops, bookmakers and vertical drinking establishments)?

If the Government is looking for a few ideas to kick-start its recovery after the summer, they may well want to take a look at these. Alternatively, Ministers may want to spend some of their summer recess going round the country and speaking to colleagues at the front line of delivery. It would seem that Labour has not run out of ideas, but is perhaps not looking in the right place for them.


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