Tomorrow’s Word of the Day is ‘Big’. That is to say: the Tories are holding a Big Event, on the theme of the Big Society, and they’ve got all their Big Hitters out for the occasion. In all, there’ll be presentations from eleven shadow Cabinet members, followed by a speech from David Cameron. You don’t often see such a concentration of Tory firepower outside of conference season.
What’s clear, then, is that the Tories regard tomorrow as an important day for their election campaign. And so they should. Their Big Society agenda – aka, decentralisation – spans across some of their most encouraging policy ideas. From Michael Gove’s plans to let parents set up their own schools, to George Osborne’s ideas for making public spending more transparent – there’s plenty in there to get enthusiastic about. But there are also some important questions which need answering, such as: what’s to ensure that people will take up the powers and responsibilities that are being handed over to them? Where are the incentives?
Signs are, the Tories are going to try answering those questions tomorrow – so we shall see.
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