Election Watch Clearway69 2010 03

© URBAN FORUM 2010

There's a strange atmosphere in Whitehall at the moment - as the politicians gear up for the general election the policy-making seems to be winding down a bit. Civil servants are no less busy of course, but (somewhat ironically) there's lots of long-term planning and forward thinking going on. Whatever the outcome of the general election, there will be new Ministers arriving soon, keen crack on with their agenda and civil servants are pulling together the obligatory powerpoint slide packs full of the relevant facts and figures to advise their new bosses.

So we're turning our attention away from Whitehall to the Party HQs to see what may lie in store for us in the not too distant future . . .

Conservatives
So far from the Tories, we've had talk of ‘mending our broken society', continuing the language of Iain Duncan-Smith's ‘Broken Britain' report. There's been a fair amount that (despite different language) is pretty similar to the devolution and empowerment agenda that the government have been pursuing over recent years. (Hardly surprising as no Party is like to say they were in favour of less citizen voice and more bureaucratic top-down control). There's a strong emphasis on the family, tackling anti social behaviour and building ‘the big society' - evoking Disraeli's idea of ‘One Nation Conservatism' much loved by Respublica's Phillip Blond.

In an interesting move the Conservatives have pushing the idea of cooperatives and mutuals in public service delivery, marching headlong into traditionally Labour domain. And Shadow Chancellor, George Osbourne, has said people should have the chance to buy a stake in state-owned banks at knock-down prices through a ‘people's bank bonus'. (but remember...the value of your investment may go down as well as up!).

Policies to support the third sector include a ‘fair deal on grants' and continuing Labour policy (though that's not how they describe it) on community asset transfer and to set up a Social Investment Bank.

Labour
Perhaps inevitably for the party in power, their current policies and future plans are harder to distinguish. They also have to contend with voters asking ‘why didn't you do that when you were in power?' for any new ideas they come up with. Perhaps most noteworthy was Gordon Brown's talk about political reform and a ‘New Politics' recently. In his speech the Prime Minister pledged to a referendum on voting reform, to explore introducing a written constitution and the power to recall MPs.
Labour announced that the economic recovery will be at the centre of their agenda as they unveiled their election slogan - A Future Fair For All - suggesting that inequality and fairness may be rising up the political agenda again.
How all this will translate into specific policy is still to be seen, but things are undoubtedly going to get very busy over the next few weeks.

Lib Dems
In Vince Cable the Lib Dems have an authoritative and widely respected spokesperson on financial matters, which could help them in an election certain to focus on the economy. Fairness features strongly in the Lib Dems' plans too with: fair taxes; a fair start for every child; fair, clean and local politics; and a fair, green economy. With all three major Parties talking about fairness - a traditional liberal theme - it may be hard for the Lib Dems to get their message across. But given the tendency for Labour and the Tories to appropriate Lib Dem, that's probably something they've become fairly accustomed to.
Their plans to revitalise local high streets include support for a Post Bank run through the Post Office network (another Labour proposal) and measures to strike a better balance between independent retailers and large supermarkets. There's lots in their plans that chime with research Urban Forum has conducted on local shops and amenities, a Post Bank and the planning system.

Election Footnote
Whoever wins the next election we're guaranteed some big changes. Partly because of the state of the public finances and the need to cut spending and partly due to the number of new MPs that will be elected. At the time of writing 135 MPs have said they will not be seeking re-election, a figure which could easily end up rising to 150 and is already a post-war record. When 128 MPs stood down in 1945, because of the War, there had not been an election for 10 year! So, quite aside from any MPs who stand and lose their seats, a quarter of our elected parliamentarians will be new. That could be just the sort of fresh start we need given Parliament's tarnished reputation.