Abolition of GLC and Metropolitan County Councils

Part of Orders of the Day — Local Government Bill (Clause 1) – in the House of Commons at 6:15 pm on 13 December 1984.

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Photo of Mr Hugh Dykes Mr Hugh Dykes , Harrow East 6:15, 13 December 1984

The hon. Gentleman's knowledge about that is greater than that of many hon. Members. He may have had experience on relevant GLC committees. That is a nerve-wracking element for the officials at county hall. They are not party political. Some officials have a political axe to grind, but if they are good they keep it to themselves. Officials are not merely worried but are genuinely anxious and almost verging on panic about that on behalf of the public they are supposed to serve. No sober bureaucrat or official enjoys chaos and upheaval, especially when it cannot be intrinsically justified. If the Government do not respond to the powerful admonitions of the Committee and seek to force through the reorganisation of local government functions in a gross period of eleven months and a net period of only a few months, they will find it extremely difficult.

The financial aspect also relates directly to the need for a longer period to do the monumentally complicated task of dismantling a body which a Conservative Government set up 20 years ago. On 24 November The Times stated that Mr. Livingstone's provocations and behaviour had given rise to abolition, but stated: The government's replies are equally unconvincing because they glibly assume the cost cutting enthusiasm of all borough and district politicians to be that of the Tory loyalists of Bromley and Trafford. The sums cannot indeed be done until the 1st April 1987 when the ratepayers of the conurbations first receive their bills under the new scheme. Even that will allow no full audit. Can hon. Members imagine the chaos that would ensue? The article continues: it will take forensic accounting skill of the highest quality to trace through many Public Expenditure Survey lines the on-costs of the central government's own expanded responsibilities. Since when have Conservative Administrations been in the business of wilfully causing so much confusion about matters which are already difficult to grasp, let alone in a period of total upheaval and disruption? The article continues: The system will be more opaque. For accountability we will have to trust not the untrustworthy, but easily identifiable, Mr. Livingstone but anonymous officials. These anxieties are serious. They transcend the more superficial party political considerations and are the legitimate preoccupation of hon. Members during this political week. My hon. Friend the Minister is a serious and distinguished member of the Government. I hope that he will respond to the genuine anxieties that are being expressed here and elsewhere. More time is needed. More time would produce a much more rational solution, if only the Government would exercise more patience.