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Nick Raynsford remains sceptical about how far a future Tory Government would take the localist agenda. It is a common assumption that politicians in central government are keener to espouse the case for devolving more powers to a local level when they are in opposition, and much more hesitant when in government. The current Conservative opposition has certainly been promoting its localist credentials very boldly in recent months. So, not surprisingly, a certain amount of speculation has begun in local government circles about whether this conversion is genuine or whether, if elected to power, the party would revert to the heavy-handed centralism of the Thatcher era. Now, shadow chancellor, George Osborne, with his pledge of a council tax freeze has given the answer and, indeed, given the game away. The commitment to localism would not survive for a moment under a Tory Government. Of course, one can understand the pressures on Mr Osborne to make his revealing pledge that a Tory Government would freeze council tax for two years. After scoring a huge conference success with his inheritance tax pledge the previous year, he needed something equally eye-catching to a traditional Tory audience to maintain his political reputation this year. And what better than the much-hated council tax? The rapturous response to the rabbit he pulled magically out of the hat at conference tells us that his political judgment was spot on. Pledging to freeze the tax was bound to play well with the party faithful and much of Middle England. The problem is that while politicians at central government level feel tempted or obliged to exercise such detailed control over local government tax-raising decisions, talk of devolution is, frankly, risible. ‘You can do what you want but you won't get the money unless you do what the Government says' is not the language of localism – it is a recipe for tough central control. Now, I don't for a moment pretend that how central government handles council tax issues is easy. I am the first to own up to having maintained the capping regimen when I was local government minister. Indeed, I am conscious that phasing out capping was the only one of the devolutionary pledges in the 2001 Local Government White Paper which was not implemented. Against the background of an average 13% council tax increase in 2003, pensioners threatening to go to jail for non-payment, and with the tabloid media baying for government action to clamp down on high-spending councils, it was hardly surprising that capping remained in force. I had hoped once the furore sparked by that year's steep council tax increases had subsided, we would be able to make further progress in the localist direction, with changes to the local government funding regime through the balance of funding review and later, the Lyons inquiry. Sadly, those hopes were not fulfilled, but the clear conclusion from that experience was that advancing the case for devolution has to be done incrementally, step by step, and avoid any grand gestures likely to promote controversy and set the cause back. Michael Lyons clearly reached similar conclusions. As always, it is matters of finance that pose the biggest challenge. So, critical to any serious localist agenda has to be a programme of reforms which do give more control over local spending decisions to elected local authorities, and which make them more directly accountable to their electorate for such decisions. There are several possible options as we made clear in the balance of funding review. Some could be introduced step by step, to avoid any sudden financial upheaval which might derail the process. But, at all costs, the one thing to avoid is a grand gesture of the kind Mr Osborne has espoused, emphasising that control over local spending and tax raising will remain firmly in the grip of the centre. He may have won short-term plaudits from the conference audience and the Tory-sympathising media, but he has, at a stroke, destroyed the credibility of his party's spokesmen trying to persuade a not-entirely-unsceptical local government audience that the current Opposition's conversion to the localist cause is more than skin deep. Nick Raynsford is a former local government minister

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WHITEHALL

Tory freeze 'is a flight of fancy'

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