The burden of power

Author: Alex Thomson, Localis (in the Local Government Chronicle)   |  

There is always something of a pendulum effect in local politics as those in government at Westminster lose seats locally but the recent local election results show it is swinging in a most unusual fashion. Come the morning after the night before, the two halves of the coalition both woke up with sore heads, but for very different reasons.

While the Conservatives had been celebrating an unexpected success with the Tory vote in many areas proving far more steadfast than anyone had predicted, for their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats it was every bit as bad as they had feared and a very substantial tranche of their local government powerbase has been swept away. And the electorate’s comprehensive ‘No to AV’ won’t have helped their hangover either.

For the first time in living memory the Liberal Democrats were fighting council elections while in Government nationally, but it would seem that any hopes that the glamour of long-desired power would rub off were misplaced. Indeed it will be interesting to see how many wards, if any, had turnout that was higher for the AV referendum than for council elections – which could indicate disgruntled natural Lib Dem voters coming out to vote for the issue they really get energised by, but refusing to support the party’s candidates and not being able to bring themselves to vote for anyone else.
Of course, it is clearly, if regrettably, true that many of the Lib Dem votes that evaporated did so not as a comment on the respective merits of the candidates standing in a particular ward, but rather as a rebuff to policy decisions taken in the Ministerial offices of Whitehall. Such is the burden of power, particularly at a time of fiscal strain.

So, given a similar handicap, why did the Conservatives outperform expectations so thoroughly? Part of the answer no doubt lies in many Conservative councils having a good record on which to stand, but is there something wider at work? A recent survey showed a trebling in councils’ confidence that front line services could be protected, despite the reductions in central government grant.

Perhaps some voters have picked up on this less pessimistic mindset from their councillors and are thinking that things may not, after all, be as bad as they once seemed? Certainly, most councils have been planning for cuts in central government funding for many months – and let’s not forget that cuts were coming, regardless of who was in power at Westminster – and many have been able to show real innovation and dedication to ensure that valued local services are shielded from the impact of those cuts.

As localists, we long for the day when local elections solely reflect local residents’ views on the competence and executive record of the candidates standing, rather than functioning as a proxy for those who wish to register an opinion on national issues – a view we are sure many Liberal Democrats would echo. We emphatically aren’t there yet, but maybe we’re on the way?

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