Cllr Mark Weston is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Bristol City Council.
The furore around the circumstances and causes of the effective insolvency of Labour-run Birmingham City Council – attributed to an outstanding legal liability of £760m to settle equal pay claims – I think has highlighted the precariousness of local government finance but also raises important questions around the quality of political decision-making and what taxpayers can reasonably expect from their local authority.
In economically straightened times, can councils afford to be agents or instruments of social change, or should they concentrate instead on performing basic core competencies such as maintaining critical infrastructure like roads, ensuring efficient refuse collection, raising recycling rates, and undertaking all of their many statutory responsibilities? Increasingly, people are rightly complaining about paying more in Council Tax for less in diminishing or poorly performing public services.
I believe the time is fast approaching for an honest and critical re-examination of the role and scope of local government.
Since I last wrote for this site, the people of Bristol have spoken and have resoundingly chosen to ditch the elected Mayor form of governance.
On May 6th last year, with a total of 94,554 votes cast in a referendum, a clear majority (59 per cent to 41 per cent) opted for a return to decisions being taken by committee rather than imposed by a perceived autocratic Mayor. The popularity of Labour in our city has been on a steep decline ever since Mayor Marvin Rees formed his first Cabinet in 2016.
Some of the policies, priorities and decisions taken by his administration have been little short of disastrous. For the sake of conciseness, I will recount only the biggest missteps:- financial losses of around £46 million by continuing to invest in an already failing corporate energy supply company (Bristol Energy); the spiralling cost of £132 million of refurbishing a historic concert hall (Bristol Beacon); a singularly unpopular decision to delay and relocate a modern multipurpose indoor venue to the edge of Bristol (YTL Arena Bristol); and looking to spend millions on investigating the feasibility of building a curiously ill-defined hybrid underground mass transit system for the city which one report suggested could cost up to £18 billion to build.
With such a lamentable record, is it any wonder that Whitehall is suspicious of local authorities and will always want to curtail their discretionary spending?
No doubt one of the professed strengths of these Mayors, of enabling people to clearly identify with whom to praise or blame for decisions made and implemented, is also a major factor for Labour’s demise in our city.
At the delayed local elections held in May 2021, the Labour Party eventually lost their majority on the Council to tie with the number of Greens (24) elected to the Chamber. This trend has continued through by-elections to leave Labour now the second largest Party to the Greens who seem to have currently supplanted the Lib Dems as the much preferred recipients of a protest vote.
Fortunately, throughout, the Conservative Group has remained stable at 14 Members. This is not an insignificant achievement, given the turbulent political events that have happened both nationally and internationally over recent years. These range from the political reverberations of Brexit, of course, the huge economic, health and social upheavals of COVID, and now the continuing implications of dealing with the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
My colleagues bring a wealth of experience and knowledge which is appreciated by our residents. So, it is hoped that by continuing to focus on local issues and acting as champions for our disparate communities, we will still be able to enjoy that electoral support and even be able to grow formal representation. Part of that conversation will undoubtedly have to be the shape of local government to come and managing public aspirations.
It is a sad political reality that councillors of all stripes who belong to parties that have enjoyed a long tenure in central Government, often suffer from voter backlash. This is mistakenly used as a means of punishing Westminster, irrespective of any fault or failings on the part of local representatives. Historically, only hard work, a strong campaign, and simple messaging have been proven to be an effective antidote to this phenomenon but sometimes even that is not enough.
There are huge issues confronting our Prime Minister, conquering inflation, tackling the housing crisis, improving public services, and meeting concerns over migration. The time to turn these affairs around is shortening. Conversely, opinion polls are volatile and there is little appetite or enthusiasm for Labour as an alternative either nationally or locally in Bristol. Perhaps our greatest enemy will be voter apathy. If we can overcome that obstacle, I am confident that there is still everything to play for at the Polls.