COUNCILS OF DESPAIR
The government needs to support new mayors and city-based governance arrangements with a substantial shift of powers away from Whitehall. The new 'city deals', which allow the eight largest core cities to specify the powers they need to boost local economic growth, have proved complex and...
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| Published in: | Public Finance 2012-06, p.22 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | The government needs to support new mayors and city-based governance arrangements with a substantial shift of powers away from Whitehall. The new 'city deals', which allow the eight largest core cities to specify the powers they need to boost local economic growth, have proved complex and tortuous to negotiate. The national economy needs cities and their regions to function much more productively in the future. In fact, they are vital engines for the much sought-after economic growth. Policies, such as the RGF, infrastructure investment, changes to the tax system and next April's reforms to business rates are the closest the Coalition has come to an economic policy to boost growth. With official figures suggesting the country is now in a second recession and the eurozone providing little joy, there is a powerful political imperative to deliver an economic recovery. Governments that cannot show signs that the recession is ending look set to lose office at the first opportunity available to voters. What UK national and local politicians need to do is to make clear to the electorate what the future realities are likely to be for this country's economy and public services. The public sector will have to take second place to this overriding objective, however unpalatable this might be. Only infrastructure investment is likely to buck this trend. Unless the economy can be fixed, resources for public services will remain limited for a generation. Gloom about the future of the UK economy and households' finances appear overwhelming - all of which is felt even more keenly at the local level. The good news is that cities and city-regions - if only politicians will find ways to reboot them - can be part of the solution, not the problem. |
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| ISSN: | 1352-9250 |