Local Government, England (Reform)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 February 1970.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Bob Mitchell Mr Bob Mitchell , Southampton, Test 12:00, 18 February 1970

It is a tribute to the courage of the Government that the White Paper has appeared at all. Courage was not the word used by some of my right hon. Friend's supporters last weekend after they read the White Paper. The reform of local government is long overdue. The first Labour Government ducked it in 1949, and Conservative Government ducked it during their period of office.

Unlike my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Derby, North (Mr. MacDermot), I support basically the philosophy both in the Maud Report and in the White Paper. In other words, I support the unitary principle. I must declare a bias here. This is not surprising, because I spent 13 years as a councillor in a county borough, an all-purpose authority, and naturally one likes what one knows best.

I am convinced about the worth of the unitary principle, and it was, therefore, rather a shock when I saw that one way in which the Government had departed from the Maud Report was in respect of the area which I represent, South Hampshire. The Maud Report recommended two unitary authorities, whereas the White Paper combines these two in a metropolitan area. At first sight, I was rather horrified, but I confess that, having given this more thought, and having got down to rather more detail, I think that the Government have made their case for a metropolitan authority in South Hampshire.

Having said that, I should like, briefly, to examine the size of the second-tier authority. Where the proposals in the White Paper go wrong is that they recommend that there should be only three second-tier authorities under the whole South Hampshire metropolitan area. It recommends the two unitary authorities which the Maud Report proposes, with the Isle of Wight outside as a third.

The unitary authority for the Southampton area is too large to be a second-tier authority. What we need in South Hampshire—and I hope that the Government will remain flexible about this—is five lower-tier authorities. Southampton should be one, Portsmouth another, at least two in Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight as the fifth. I hope that the Government have not closed their mind about the number of second-tier authorities.

I was surprised that some of my colleagues argued last weekend that if we were to have the metropolitan area why must we have second-tier authorities at all. They seem to think that the powers left to second-tier authorities in the White Paper are not sufficient to justify them. I dispute that. When one looks at Appendix C of the White Paper, one sees that second-tier authorities, even with education coming out, will have a great deal of work to do. The Government are right to depart from the Maud recommendation and to place education in the top-tier authority.

There is one more thing that I urge on the Government. Now, when they are considering local government reorganisation, let us consider the future of higher education. I define higher education as education where most of the courses are full-time over the age of 18. I am not convinced that the unitary authority, or even the metropolitan area, should be responsible for higher education. It is possible that when the new provinces are set up higher education, including universities, will be passed to them on a regional basis.

Alternatively, I would like to see all higher education taken away from local authorities and financed in the same way as are universities. A recommendation of this kind was made by the Select Committee on Education and Science last Session, but the House has not yet had the opportunity of debating its report.

I turn to certain proposals which have hardly been mentioned. They are dealt with in the White Paper in paragraphs 74 to 87. The points that I am able to raise may be of lesser importance than the ones about which we have been talking, but they will create tremendous amount of local discussion and disagreement. Paragraph 76 refers to the Government's agreeing to the abolition of aldermen. I have never been an alderman, so I can speak with an open mind. I believe that they are among the most maligned people in local government.

There is a case for electing a group of people at less frequent intervals than those at which councillors are elected, in order to provide the continuity necessary in a local authority. Most aldermen perform a valuable job. They are apt to consider the council as a whole, rather than from the point of view of the ward they represent. I hope that the Government will reconsider the question of aldermen.

Paragraph 79 deals with the expenses of councillors and the question whether or not they should be paid. There was much controversy when the chairman of the G.L.C. finance committee announced that he was resigning his job because it took up too much time. He thought that he should be paid £5,000 a year. That is utterly absurd. It indicates what I believe to be prevalent among local government representatives, namely, that too many councillors are trying to do the jobs of their local officials. I do not believe that even the chairman of a powerful committee of the G.L.C. needs to spend all his time in his job. If he does, it is clear that he is doing the job of his officials.