Cornwall Council: A privatised society?

My article for this week’s Cornish Guardian focuses on Cornwall Council’s “shared services” project. It will also appear in the West Briton and is as follows:

People are often shocked when they find out that most key decisions at Cornwall Council are not made by all 123 councillors, but by the ten members of the Cabinet.

It means power lies with the few and not the many. And last week, the ruling Cabinet took a decision of enormous significance that, I believe, was contrary to the majority view of elected members. This has certainly angered many non-Cabinet members.

The Cabinet has voted to proceed with a “Shared Services” project and to invite tenders for a contact worth £300 million. 

According to the Conservative leadership of the Council, there will be a partnership with local health partners and a large private company to deliver a range of “support services.” They also claim it will save money and create new jobs.

I see it somewhat differently. The “joint venture” would mean that a massive range of council services including benefits, council tax, payroll, IT support, libraries and one stop shops, etc, would be delivered by a private company.

I do not support the privatisation of council services as a matter of principle. But I also find it disturbing that the Council will be a minority partner in this arrangement and therefore dependent upon a private company, whose first loyalty will always be to the “bottom line” and their shareholders – not the residents of Cornwall.

Councillors will inevitably also be sidelined and local democracy further undermined.

The so-called savings and new jobs have not been adequately evidenced and are illusory. Even supporters of the scheme are talking about it being a “leap of faith.”

It has been rightly pointed out that many “joint ventures” involving local Councils have failed, costing local taxpayers many millions. I agree with local union representatives that "the whole thing does not stack up."

Stuart Roden from Unison has summed it up quite succinctly: “We don’t see how it’s possible to protect and create jobs, make savings of 20 per cent-plus, improve services and make a profit for the shareholders of private companies.”

It is my view that the massive cuts from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government are doing great damage to the fabric of our public sector, with local authorities increasingly starved of vital funding.

I also agree with the opposition politician who has lambasted the Government for failing to create its much-lauded “Big Society,” creating the “privatised society” instead.

Hypocrisy and arrogance at the heart of the Coalition parties

Today the Prime Minister arrogantly stated that he plans to press ahead with proposed boundary changes to the House of Commons, in spite of the fact that the Liberal Democrats are poised to vote the changes down.

But what hypocrisy we have seen from Coalition politicians over the last couple days.

The Conservatives

Speaking in Wales, David “It’s the Tamar – not the Amazon for heaven’s sake” Cameron has been reported as saying that: "We want the boundary change vote to go ahead. I am going to be saying to every MP 'Look, the House of Commons ought to be smaller, it ought to be less expensive and we ought to have seats that are exactly the same size.' I think everyone should come forward and vote for that proposal because it is a very sensible proposal and it will be put forward."

But how can it be acceptable to (i) trash plans for a reduction in the number of unelected Lords, but (ii) to forge ahead with plans to reduce the number of MPs? What hypocrisy!

And here in Cornwall, Sheryll Murray MP who told the Saltash Keep Cornwall Whole Rally in October 2010: “We must fight the destruction of our historic border by the political map … we will fight on and on …” tweeted “I thought Lib Dems believed in fairness for all yet they don't now appear to agree with equal representation for all voters. Disappointing!" What hypocrisy!

The Liberal Democrats

Nick Clegg, who helped drive through the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill through the House of Commons, is also being branded a hypocrite because of this u-turn. Months ago, he made speech after speech arguing that the equalisation of constituency sizes was an important point of principle. But having voted through something that he and the Liberal Democrats “believed in,” he has told his party to vote down the changed constituencies, because they would benefit the Tories! What hypocrisy!

Meanwhile in Cornwall, Alex Folkes, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats at the unitary authority, is already taunting Sheryll Murray MP via his blog, asking her: “Are you a secret supporter of Devonwall?”

But he seems to have forgotten that 95% of all Coalition MPs opposed an amendment to protect Cornwall and then two of Cornwall’s Lib Dem MPs voted for the Bill with the third bravely abstaining. What hypocrisy!

What double standards at the very heart of the Coalition parties.

Great news: Devonwall seat is doomed

Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall has welcomed the news that the creation of a cross-Tamar Devonwall parliamentary seat is unlikely to happen, following the failure of the Coalition to agree a way forward on the reform of the House of Lords.

Last week, the Prime Minister David Cameron announced that proposals to reform the House of Lords were doomed, because he could not guarantee the support of large numbers of Tory MPs.

And yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg admitted that the reforms had to be abandoned. But told the Prime Minister that the Liberal Democrats would oppose proposals to reduce the size of the Commons from 650 to 600 MPs and to redraw parliamentary boundaries (likely to favour the Conservatives) and delay them until after the 2015 election.

It is great news that the creation of a cross-Tamar parliamentary seat will almost certainly not happen and that the territorial integrity has been safeguarded for Westminster elections. But it is also important that the Prime Minister makes a prompt announcement that the Boundary Review has been curtailed with immediate effect.

Many people campaigned hard to oppose the Devonwall seat and we must celebrate the news that it is not going to happen. But the Boundary Review has only been ended because of primitive and self-interested political bartering between the Coalition parties.

We must never forget that both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats voted through the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, which would have created a Devonwall seat.

We must never forget that both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Ministers dismissively ignored our opposition to Devonwall.

And we must never forget that over 95% of Coalition MPs opposed an amendment to protect the integrity of Cornwall, and that five of Cornwall’s six MPs supported the finalised Bill with their votes.

Failure of Lords reform could scupper plan for Devonwall seat

It has been widely  reported today that David Cameron has withdrawn Conservative support for plans to create a directly elected House of Lords.

Senior Conservatives have told the Liberal Democrats that it would be impossible to get enough Tory support to force the measure through the House of Commons.

Senior Liberal Democrats are meanwhile reported as saying that “Lords reform is effectively dead” but have warned that the move would have “consequences”.

The knock-on of this could be very good news for Cornwall.

It looks increasingly likely that the Lib Dems could kill off Cameron’s self-interested plans to reduce the number of MPs and to change parliamentary constituency boundaries.

And this would mean that the proposed Devonwall constituency would never be created.

Now is the time to reinvigorate the battle against a cross-Tamar constituency and make sure Cornish MPs stand up for Cornwall’s territorial integrity in the coming weeks and months.

MK slams privatisation of council services

Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall has condemned the decision of Cornwall Council’s ten-strong Cabinet to part-privatise a series of key services.

Cornwall Council continues to be in discussion with two large private companies, one of which will jointly run services such as the payment of benefits, the running of libraries and one-stop shops. It is stated that other partners such as the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust could also be involved, but have yet to commit to the project.

The leadership of the Council claims that the venture would create 500 jobs and produce savings of £5 million in the first two years. But the move is opposed by "back-bench" councillors of all political persuasions.

I agree with Unison’s Stuart Roden who has pointed out that many similar joint ventures have failed. In particular, he said: "We don't see how it's possible to protect and create jobs, make savings of 20 per cent-plus, improve services and make a profit for the shareholders of private companies. The whole thing does not stack up."

MK opposes the ongoing privatisation of council services by the present Cabinet. We find it disturbing that Cornwall Council would also be a minor partner in such an arrangement, with councillors sidelined and local democracy further undermined.

We do not accept the claims about the projected savings or the new jobs, which we consider to be wishful thinking. We also worry for the very future of Cornwall Council as a democratic public sector entity.

The massive cuts from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat government, and the privatising agenda of Conservative-led Cornwall Council, is doing great damage to the fabric of our public sector and its services. What is more, it is ordinary people who will suffer the consequences of such privatisations.

I will be having much more to say on this topic in the coming weeks.