Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Interesting to see the proposals bring unveiled today by Labour.


They include a reform of the house of Lords and more devolved powers. Proposals also include more revenue raising powers for local government and 50,000 civil service jobs being moved out of London.


A few things strike me

One. 50,000 staff members will be expensive to relocate, if indeed they want to move and if they don't that's a lot of knowledge and skill lost. With the current working practices, more people are working remotely so again they may not want to do a long commute on their days in the office.


Two. Devolving power, whilst allowing local decisions to be made, adds layers of bureaucracy which in turn adds costs which means services cost more.


Three. The concept of more revenue raising smacks of local taxes which means the government can say they haven't raised taxes but we all end up paying more.


The plans to reform the House of Lords sounds like it will echo the American system, and if so can we expect to see one house blocking the other if opposing parties have their political members in power ?


Will these ideas being presented work or will they add to the problems?

Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/318865-labours-proposals/
Share on other sites

Good to see something more definite rather than just sitting back and waiting for Tories to fail.


They've been moving civil servants out of the SE for getting on for 50 years - in particular processing applications, benefit etc. Just feels a bit of a popularist announcement.


More of a struggle for those closer to ministers - previous governments of both colours have promised to do this, some failed dramatically, a good review up to the last Labour government https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN02588/SN02588.pdf


Ultimately I expect decisions will be pragmatic - who has to be close to Westminister/Whitehall, (some staff have been moved out to Croydon which didn't count as London in earlier programmes) and particularly with the shrinking of the central London estate, which was happening before Covid, how much function can be done away from SW1.

Two. Devolving power, whilst allowing local decisions to be made, adds layers of bureaucracy which in turn adds costs which means services cost more.

I'm not convinced by your cost assertions tbh but I'm surprised that Labour is proposing more devolution - as it's never been particularly popular with English voters...

House of Lords. I have mixed feelings. Current structure has crossbenchers (ex civil servants, academics...) who give a broader critique of legislation.


Devolution risk of more postcode lotteries like we see in NHS. Policy different in Lambeth and Southwark despite now being same ICS (was CCG).

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Our car was stolen from in front of our house on Scutari Rd, SE22 last night. Black S Max If anyone sees it around please get in touch. I'm currently on phone to police and insurers. Mark - 07793591921
    • Honestly, the squirrels are not a problem now.  They only eat what has dropped.  The feeders I have are squirrel proof anyway from pre-cage times.  I have never seen rats in the garden, and even when I didn't have the cage.  I most certainly would have noticed them.  I do have a little family of mice which I have zero problem about.  If they stay outside, that's fine with me.  Plus, local cats keep that population down.  There are rats everywhere in London, there is plenty of food rubbish out in the street to keep them happy.  So, I guess you could fit extra bars to the cage if you wanted to, but then you run the risk of the birds not getting in.  They like to be able to fly in and out easily, which they do.   
    • Ahh, the old "it's only three days" chestnut.  I do hope you realise the big metal walls, stages, tents, toilets, lighting, sound equipment, refreshments, concessions etc don't just magically appear & disappear overnight? You know it all has to be transported in & erected, constructed? And that when stuff is constructed, like on a construction site, it's quite noisy & distracting? Banging, crashing, shouting, heavy plant moving around - beep beep beep reversing signals, engines revving - pneumatic tools? For 8 to 10 hours a day, every day? And that it tends to go on for two or three weeks before an event, and a week after when they take it all down again? I'm sure my boys' GCSE prep won't be affected by any of that, especially if we close the windows (before someone suggests that as a resolution). I'm sure it won't affect anyone at the Harris schools either, actually taking their exams with that background noise.
    • Thanks for the good discussion, this should be re-titled as a general thread about feeding the birds. @Penguin not really sure why you posted, most are aware that virtually all land in this country is managed, and has been for 100s of years, but there are many organisations, local and national government, that manage large areas of land that create appropriate habitats for British nature, including rewilding and reintroductions.  We can all do our bit even if this is not cutting your lawn, and certainly by not concreting over it.  (or plastic grass, urgh).   I have simply been stating that garden birds are semi domesticated, as perhaps the deer herds in Richmond Park, New Forest ponies, and even some foxes where we feed them.  Whoever it was who tried to get a cheap jibe in about Southwark and the Gala festival.  Why?  There is a whole thread on Gala for you to moan on.  Lots going on in Southwark https://www.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/parks-and-open-spaces/ecology-and-wildlife I've talked about green sqwaky things before, if it was legal I'd happily use an air riffle, and I don't eat meat.  And grey squirrels too where I am encourage to dispatch them. Once a small group of starlings also got into the garden I constructed my own cage using starling proof netting, it worked for a year although I had to make a gap for the great spotted woodpecker to get in.  The squirrels got at it in the summer but sqwaky things still haven't come back, starlings recently returned.  I have a large batch of rubbish suet pellets so will let them eat them before reordering and replacing the netting. Didn't find an appropriately sized cage, the gaps in the mesh have to be large enough for finches etc, and the commercial ones were £££ The issue with bird feeders isn't just dirty ones, and I try to keep mine clean, but that sick birds congregate in close proximity with healthy birds.  The cataclysmic obliteration of the greenfinch population was mainly due to dirty feeders and birds feeding close to each other.  
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...