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My grandmother always told me never to talk about politics and religion at parties. More recently, people's conversations have shifted from politics to politicians. The expenses scandal increased interest, and now politicians have moved into a similar category as bankers. They have become a regular ‘whipping boy'. At a recent event for member development, a chart was used with four animals to illustrate different points on a grid of awareness. Bottom right was the sheep, representing the ‘politically unaware' and ‘common good', while on the top left, the fox was ‘politically aware' and represented ‘self-interest'. If I believed in reincarnation, a local government chief executive would probably return as a mule. In recent years, local government has been forced into becoming more stubborn, while being required to be more subservient. It has also been led into becoming more reliant on central government as a consequence of the inspection, league tables and funding regime. In the eyes of many in central government, we have become merely a delivery vehicle of their organisation at local level. Like mules during the gold rush, workloads are increasing, very often without proper consultation or resources. The stick appears to be getting longer, and the carrot smaller. We have been told we are entering a new era of empowerment and localism. This coincides with an economic downturn where local government is fast running out of cash, and far more scrutiny and criticism is being directed at areas it has chosen to become involved in. Is this move to empowerment being accelerated to pass on current problems to us in local government? I see the headlines already: ‘The minister advised that this is a matter for local determination'. Yes, local government has been supported by many wanting more freedom to open up innovation and meet local needs. But when parts of the private sector have been handed a large wedge of cash and helped out of the mire, it seems wrong that local government is being handed more issues to deal with – and less cash. As always, we will be expected to rise to the challenge. Alternatives do not exist for us to continue to look after our local residents and businesses at this key time. Hee haw! Stephen Weigel is chief executive of Tandridge DC

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WHITEHALL

District View

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