The powers needed to protect from shock doctrine

Last week was the first time Glasgow City Council met following the new Westminster coalition (or is that marriage?) of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. A motion that was brought forward by the Lib Dem group was very timely, and focused on the current state of Scotland's Local Authorities. This inevitably led to a debate on the relationship between Glasgow, Scotland, and the UK's mandate for governance- more on that later.

Thanks to the SNP's Council Tax freeze, Local Authorities in this country have lost all fiscal autonomy. They now literally manage, not govern, the public services we deliver to Scotland's citizens all over the country. In the past, Local Authorities would raise 50% of the their revenue. Now, the most we can raise is 15%. The marriage's rhetoric appears to be one of reforming democracy, and I look forward to seeing what comes forward for our cousins south of the border. But here in Scotland, Local Authorities are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament. We have had the reform of local democracy with the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote, but now we need the fiscal reforms to bring more power closer to the people, and to bring more responsibility and accountability to our local authorities.

The point is illustrated right here in Glasgow. We have a Labour Administration voted in by the public of Glasgow that, if it stuck to its philosophy, would want to protect its public services from Tory/LibDem cuts. It can't. The Scottish Parliament will get less money from the Barnett formula, and that will eventually lead to less money for Glasgow. People will get frustrated, alienated, and angry. The Labour Administration will simply blame the SNP, who can then blame the Tories and LibDems. And so the cycle continues, perhaps with different names in different places. This scenario highlights the difference in political geography across the country, and this needs to be reflected in our fiscal powers. Fiscal powers that could protect Glasgow (or any Local Authority) from the Tory Shock Doctrine that is sure to come our way.

So we need greater fiscal powers in our local authorities to reflect the local differences we have up and down the country. But the Greens would go further. Community Councils are often viewed as full of busy-bodies who hate any change in their area, which is incredibly unfair. Community Councils have the potential to bring people together to nurture, protect and develop their communities as the community wants, and given better resources, more support and more powers, they could genuinely bring in more people who care deeply about their community and want to feel that their actions matter in their community. So, much like Local Authorities, Community Councils need to be shown respect and be given more freedom to make the decisions people in communities want to see.

The localisation of power, both democratically and fiscally, would encourage more people to care about what is going on within their local community, whether that's Glasgow, Moray, Partick or Leith. It is what has been missing from politics for so long. It needs to go further than fiscal powers for Local Authorities, but at least that would be a start.