Bring on people power – but Cameron will still need to get his hands dirty
Peter Hoskin 9:05am
You've got to hand it to him: David Cameron knows when to dish out the charm. Just days
on from news about cuts to their pay-offs, he is today giving a speech to
civil servants in which he purrs that they "the envy of the world". Not that he withholds the stick, though. The meat of the speech is a series of measures designed to make the
operations of Whitehall more transparent and its actors more accountable. Which, lest it need saying, is something I'm all in favour of.
But it's worth noting that much of this "post-bureaucratic" agenda will still require strong central control to work properly. Take Cameron's proposal to make departments publish "structural reform plans," setting out their objectives and progress towards meeting them. The idea is that this will make chief civil servants more accountable to the public. But notwithstanding Tory plans for directly-elected police commissioners and the like, most of those civil servants will remain unelected. So the public can moan about Whitehall performance all they like, but the real power to deal with the responsible parties will still lie within the system. Not necessarily a bad thing – but it does mean there's doubt about whether public pressure will translate into anything meaningful.
There's a similar dynamic with everything from the government's plans to publish data on public spending to the roll-out of Gove's schools agenda. To make these decentralising programmes work – at least to start off with – the coalition will have to keep its hand firmly on the tiller. This may seem like a bitter irony, but look on it more as government getting a grip. A necessary process.
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Nickle
July 8th, 2010 9:23am Report this commentLets have referenda by proxy.
Everyone nominates an MP to be their proxy. There MP is elected by FPTP, STV ... whatever. It's irrelevant.
Then for the final say on borrowing, taxation and bills its not the number of MPs that matter, its proxy votes.
Then all it takes is one MP to say I will allow people to cast their vote via the web, and I will act as a true proxy.
Job done. We have democratic control over political decisions
Tom
July 8th, 2010 10:03am Report this commentLets have referenda by representation.
Everyone elects an MP at the beginning of a certain period of time - say every four years or something - to be their representative.
Then for the final say on borrowing, taxation and bills each MP has one vote and represents the people who voted for them.
Every decision is made by a simple majority vote of MPs who also get to scrutinise pieces of legislation as they pass through the Parliament.
Job done. We have democratic political decisions
Rhoda Klapp
July 8th, 2010 12:05pm Report this commentTom, a fine plan, if they will stick to their promises. And if you can find any candidate who will represent your own views. What if they get in then make a deal with some other constituency's MPs who think differently and answer to a different set of promises?
ajs
July 8th, 2010 4:04pm Report this commentThat photo looks awfully like a young Alastair Campbell (when only a small t**d). How did he manage to substitute the photos?
Verity
July 8th, 2010 4:08pm Report this commentHas Cameron lost whatever modest amount of marbles he was born with? British civil servants "the envy of the world". What world? The Third World? All the Nigerians hoping for a job in the Home Office selling British passports?
I would seriously like Cameron to elaborate on his strange statement. He cannot believe that the French, the Germans, the Dutch, the Danes, the Spanish, the Norwegians, the Swiss (etc), the Singaporeans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians, the Canadians, the Aussies, the Kiwis, the Malaysians, the Irish, etc., wish they were like the people who work for the government in Britain?
Is 'e 'avin' a larf?
TGF UKIP
July 8th, 2010 7:03pm Report this commentDisaster Dave can posture and prance as much as he likes but as long as civil servants and most others in the public sector are unsackable for inadequate performance then as with so much from DD it's all piss and wind.
What is really amusing in this regard though is that the egg all over his mate Gove's face this week was probably nowt whatever to do with Gove but another civil service mega cock up. Bet nobody got fired though.
Catesby
July 9th, 2010 12:27pm Report this comment@ Verity
I'd guess most Nigerians, Belgians, Frenchmen etc. do envy us as Cameron says. After all, our civil servants seldom ask for a bribe.
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