Political process | Alex's Archives

Tag Archives | Political process

Statesmanship and low politics

admin / July 12, 2012 / Politics / Permalink

Obviously, in the twenty-first century it would be better to say “statespersonship”. But that’s a bit unwieldy. And it’s not yet a thing. So I hope you’ll let me off.

I’ve been reflecting on this issue a lot over the last few days. It was triggered by last week’s unedifying slanging match between George Osborne and Ed Balls.

We need sober reflection and firm action following the exposure of the poisonous heart of the global economy. What we got was a truly hideous example of the worst sort of playground behaviour.

Osborne seems unable to leave the politicking alone. He is no longer in opposition, with the primary aim of goading and undermining the incumbent administration. He holds one of the great offices of state and should act accordingly. He shouldn’t be carrying on like the reigning Under-Elevens Name-Calling Champion who fears being deposed unless he puts in a particularly robust performance. Continue Reading →

0 Comments

Chaos in all directions

admin / December 22, 2011 / Politics / Permalink

What do we want from a government? Not in terms of the substance of policy but in the way it goes about its business. At a minimum we might reasonably expect competence. And we’d want it to play by the rules. We’d want a government to follow due process and, if its members conclude that process is not fit for purpose, to use agreed procedures to move to a new model of policy making. And we’d look to a government to embrace the values of accountability and transparency in order to rebuild the trust of a disillusioned electorate.

Is that what we’ve got?

Or is the Coalition turning out to be a bit of a policy making disaster area? Perhaps all coalitions governments are. We’re just not used to it. Continue Reading →

2 Comments

Caring diddlysquat about democracy

shodanalexm / September 29, 2011 / Dale&Co., Politics / Permalink

[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 27/09/11]

One of the less pleasant characteristics of the Coalition government is its cavalier attitude towards transparency, accountability and Parliamentary process. This is part of a more general impoverishment of democratic practice.

We hear reports of serious, but relatively small scale, issues such as Ministerial advisors using private email accounts for Government business in order to evade oversight and avoid Freedom of Information requests. We have last week’s news reports of the proposed scheme of Ministerial buddying with big business. This is a scheme which, in many other contexts, would be condemned as tantamount to formalising the corruption of the political process.

The Government is not above ignoring the letter and the spirit of good Parliamentary practice. Examples proliferate. Continue Reading →

1 Comment

Policy, evidence and dogma – the homelessness episode

shodanalexm / July 3, 2011 / Housing, Politics / Permalink

A leaked memo from Communities & Local Government exposed in today’s Observer has already generated considerable comment. The memo, written by a senior civil servant at the start of the year, sets out perfectly clearly not only that the Government’s welfare reforms ran the risk of making an additional 40,000 households homeless and reduce the number of new homes constructed, but also that – taking these knock-on effects into account – the “reforms” won’t save any money. On the contrary, they are likely to impose an increased burden on the public purse.

A lot of attention has focused upon the former point. It raises important questions about whether David Cameron misled Parliament in statements about the downside risks of the policy. The memo suggests that statements may have been made in Parliament that contradicted the best available evidence and advice to Ministers. The memo also gives some indication of what sort of costs the Prime Minister considers worth paying to drive this policy through. There is a callousness there that many will no doubt find extremely distasteful.

It has been asserted today that Mr Pickles has distanced himself from the memo and is fully behind the Government’s welfare reform agenda. I’d expect nothing less. Or more.

The suspicion of Government hypocrisy is bad enough, but I think it is the second component of the memo is more revealing. Continue Reading →

1 Comment

Sense prevails on public services?

shodanalexm / May 8, 2011 / Economics, Politics / Permalink

[Originally posted on Liberal Democrat Voice, 08/05/11]

The reports this week were that the Government is planning to scale back its proposals for outsourcing public services. A significant policy shift means that the delayed Open Public Services White paper will not feature proposals for “wholesale outsourcing” to the for-profit private sector when it finally emerges in a few weeks time. Continue Reading →

0 Comments

Where next on electoral reform?

shodanalexm / May 7, 2011 / Politics / Permalink

There are already plenty of post-mortems on the AV referendum result. I don’t propose to add much to that growing body of discussion. In fact, Mark Thompson has already said most of what I would want to say on the topic. And he’s said it better. Not for the first time. The one comment I wanted to add is that it is extraordinary how widely it is being reported that the referendum result indicates the British people have rejected electoral reform.

What’s interesting is precisely where we go next. Continue Reading →

0 Comments

Think Tanks and the policy process: Right, wrong and possibly both at the same time

shodanalexm / May 3, 2011 / Politics / Permalink

I’m currently halfway through The Conservative Party and Social Policy, edited by Hugh Bochel. The contributors chart recent developments in the policy agenda of the dominant Coalition partner. The book does a good job of conveying the protean nature of Conservative thought. Of course, one of the dangers of such an enterprise is that when assessing whether Cameron’s Conservativism represents continuity or change – traditional, neo-liberal or progressive – you’re driven to the conclusion that it’s too early to say. And that is precisely what the book does.

As well as having plenty to say on the substance of policy, the book also has something to say about the policy process, although that isn’t really central to its purpose. Continue Reading →

2 Comments

Pressing on with NHS Reform – a less than rational process

shodanalexm / April 17, 2011 / Politics, Welfare State / Permalink

The central question in the current debate over the Government’s NHS reforms is whether the “listening” exercise taking place during the recently discovered “natural pause” in the legislative process is genuine or symbolic. Concerns that the exercise is cosmetic will only be fuelled by an article in yesterday’s Guardian which cites a letter from David Nicholson, the Chief Executive of the NHS, who suggests that the implementation process should press ahead and that there is a need to “maintain momentum on the ground”.

The article includes a quote from Hamish Meldrum from the BMA who states that the BMA has:

… always maintained that changes in the NHS must not anticipate the legislative process and lead to irreversible decisions.

I’ve no idea whether the BMA have always maintained this position. But this quote highlights something very significant about the way policy is currently developing in this field. Continue Reading →

0 Comments

Liberal Democrat alternative realities

shodanalexm / March 16, 2011 / Politics / Permalink

Quite a few bloggers have now offered a perspective on the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference. Some significant positive developments occurred. The amendments to the conference motion on NHS reform have attracted most attention. The support for the emergency motion on banking reform was equally emphatic. They both represent important interventions by the Social Liberal Form. Indeed, the growing influence of the SLF in the party was noted by Mark Pack over at Liberal Democrat Voice. Both motions were passed almost unanimously; Conference was equally united on the questions of political independence and electoral strategy; on reasserting the importance of the mobility components of the DLA and of legal aid for access to justice. These were clear statements of intent. Conference saw itself as sending a signal that Coalition hadn’t turned it into “forelock touching automatons” – to borrow Andrew George’s memorable phrase. The atmosphere in the hall was generally and genuinely positive. Of course, the question of what happens next – how to turn policy positions into reality in the context of Coalition, and whether the leadership is particularly inclined to so do – was not really addressed.

Conference was repeatedly regaled with more or less extensive lists of Liberal Democrat policies that have already been implemented by the Coalition government. Many went away from Sheffield relatively happy.

It feels a little churlish to register concerns. But I’m going to anyway. Continue Reading →

9 Comments