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The shadow chancellor has pledged to significantly cut the headcount in Whitehall and deliver a ‘radical decentralisation of power'. George Osborne promised to fundamentally reshape central government and give more power to local councils. He used a keynote policy speech to Conservative councillors to make the vow, hinting that difficult funding decisions would be devolved to local authorities. Mr Osborne said: ‘In Britain, over three quarters of government spending is spent by central government. In Germany the figure is 60%. In Canada it is less than 40%. ‘Too often local councils don't even have the power to choose how to spend the money that is actually allocated to them.' Part of reductions in Whitehall would include quangos and regional agencies but there was also criticism of what Mr Osborne claimed was the £2bn being spent on monitoring of local government. He said: ‘This central bureaucracy makes it much more difficult for councils to innovate.' What was unveiled was a push to localise many of the tough decisions which will be taken on public services, alongside an attempt to get Whitehall to become more innovative. The certainty is that the Total Place initiative, which is already gathering pace, will now become more important. Mr Osborne said localism was the way forward: ‘It's about understanding that not all good ideas are dreamt up in Whitehall. It means realising that many of the best and most-cutting edge policies come from local government.' But his ideas were attacked by union leaders who made clear their opposition to service cuts. Heather Wakefield, Unison's head of local government, said: ‘Tory-led councils should stop hiding behind the recession and come clean on their "vision" – to dismantle local services in favour of tax cuts for the well-off. This is no way forward for our public services.'

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WHITEHALL

Tories vow to empower councils in major shake-up

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