A slightly adapted version of a 'Comment' by me published in Sunday Herald of Febry 24th pp31/32:
RICHARD KERLEY
To date , public
debate on whether we have Independence [
or not ] has centred on what relations might be created with a variety of
international bodies ranging from the
other countries of the British Isles, to the United Nations and the legacy
institutions of the UK such as the Crown and the DVLA .
As for any discussion about how things might look within
Scotland after 2014 it’s been pretty
much limited to the Yes campaign telling us all
that it will be ‘… much , much,
better’ and their opponents -Better Together - bewailing
how dreadful it will be .
So far there has been little serious discussion about just
what changes we might expect to see in those
of our institutions which for
most people are the reality of
government on a day to day basis. Even
those who argue that we should be
talking about what kind of Scotland we might like to see, tend to be
vague in their expression of that future condition; nicer , kinder, and
fairer seems to summarise it .
It’s a positive step that the annual conference of the
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities [CoSLA] will be asking Nicola Sturgeon
and Alistair Darling to tell us what
they think local government in Scotland will look like after 2014. On the
downside, I am not sure that either of them will give delegates clear and
specific answers to that question. I may be wrong, but
the demands of campaigning tend
to militate against providing certainty and specific proposals .
It is worth
thinking about just what might be in
store for local government post 2014, because of all public service agencies it
is the one that tends to provide the greatest range and depth of services right to our doorsteps
and for all generations.
However, what I suggest is that regardless of how we all vote in 2014, the future for Scotland’s 32
councils after that Referendum vote is going to be very similar, whether there
is a majority Yes or a majority No vote.
Firstly , barring a
spectacular bust up, we’ll have an SNP
government for at least 18 months [ 2 budgets ]
after October 2014 and regardless of the referendum vote it will be under enormous pressure to achieve
costs savings in those parts of the state that can be easily squeezed in order
to provide popular vote winners from a still
limited budget . Even with independence , most detached commentators
suggest continuing pressure on public
services for a long time ahead.
Second , we know that if we vote for independence we are
promised a constitution, and I am sure
that in any such document there will be a clause about forms of local government in the new
Scotland . Such a constitutional clause
won’t say - ‘There will always be a Fife .’ At best it will be some form of provision stating there
will be some form of elected local government ; little to say on powers, budgets, etc . and nothing
on the number and therefore size and geography of our councils .
Although the current government has continued their 2007 commitment of no council re-organisation , after 2014
all bets will be off, regardless of the
outcome of the vote . An administrative re-organisation seems a sure-fire way of saving money from parts of
the organisation that appear to be readily dispensable with limited impact. It probably would not be such an
easy money saver, but it can appear an attractive easy option . At present such enforced changes are
happening in Further education , and would be in Universities too, if Mr
Russell had his way. The Justice Secretary is already convinced that the merger
of Police and Fire services is a success even
although this has not yet actually happened, and the savings are proving more painful than
at first claimed . ‘Mergertastic’ is a game all the Cabinet can play.
There are various voices claiming we have too many councils
in Scotland, although very few people who can tell me what the ‘right ‘ number
might be . Either way, post 2014 we’ll find out what the government actually
thinks .
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