How important are these elections for Labour?
Very important. They will determine the future of many local councils, including all 32 London boroughs.
Are we expecting big losses, given that 1998, when these seats were last fought, was not a bad year for Labour?
Four years ago, Labour achieved some spectacularly good results, so we are defending a high water-mark of success. According to conventional wisdom, we should expect to lose a lot of seats this time, but I see no reason why we shouldn’t do much better than expected. There is no iron rule that says that parties in government must lose seats in local elections. Our task is to work hard to buck the trend.
Do you think the outcome of local elections are principally determined by local or national issues?
The standing of the parties nationally does have an impact on local elections, but it isn’t the case that local issues carry no weight. Results often vary significantly between areas, depending on local factors. There is some evidence that local issues are proving increasingly influential in determining voting intentions, so there is every reason to put maximum effort into local campaigns.
Some local authorities are essentially ‘one party states’. Do you think we should bring in PR to make them more representative of local communities?
Different voting systems are appropriate to different tiers of government. We have introduced PR for European parliamentary elections and for the Scottish parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies
and the Greater London Authority. However, we have no plans to extend PR to local council elections. One of the disadvantages of PR is that it makes it less likely that a single party will have a clear mandate and majority to govern. Clear direction and decisive leadership is an important ingredient in effective local government, and PR would not help to deliver that.
What is Labour doing to encourage more young people, women and members from ethnic minority backgrounds to come forward and stand as candidates?
I have been very impressed at recent meetings I have attended for new Labour Party members by how diverse the membership of our party is, covering all age groups, and with a real gender and ethnic balance. We are far more representative of Britain’s diverse population than any other political party, and we have made good progress in translating this into political representation. The government has recently brought in new legislation to help reinforce this process by making it easier for parties to select more women candidates. Locally, in my constituency of Greenwich and Woolwich, we have recently selected a group of candidates for this May’s local elections who cover a really broad spectrum of ages, gender and ethnic background. This should be the objective everywhere.
People in some local authorities are asked to vote every year in local elections. Do you think this contributes to voter apathy?
Election patterns vary from area to area – in some areas there are annual elections, in others councils are elected once every four years. The government has asked the independent Electoral Commission to review these arrangements and recommend a better and more consistent pattern for the future. We are working closely with the Electoral Commission to identify ways in which people can be encouraged to participate actively in elections and in local decision making between elections. Engaging people in the working of our democracy is a fundamental objective.
Where referenda have been held on the creation of directly elected mayors there has been poor turnouts and voters have often rejected the proposition. Why do you think this is and do you intend to press on with this idea?
Giving local communities the choice of whether to have a directly elected mayor,
a leader and cabinet or another structure,
is one of our most important local government reforms. It puts the choice firmly where it belongs – with local people. Different communities will decide differently what’s best for them. To date, eight areas have chosen to have a directly elected mayor, and others may well follow. The important thing is that the choice is made by communities. We will certainly retain this fundamentally democratic principle. Turnout has been a problem at local elections for some time. Where councils have tried to publicise local referenda and have adopted postal ballots, the turnout has often been better than at local council elections. We certainly need to work hard to encourage turnout – that is why the government is promoting pilots exploring new ways of voting at this May’s local elections.
Does the use of targets and micromanagement by Whitehall in fields such as education and social services make local government essentially redundant?
The local government white paper, published last December, made it clear that we want to see a renaissance of effective local government with less central controls and more scope for local councils to take decisions to reflect the needs and priorities of their area. After almost 30 years of increased central control, we are reversing these trends and giving greater freedom and flexibility to local authorities. At the same time, I have made it clear to local authorities that the public expect them to improve the standard of public service delivery. To do this, central and local government need to work together in partnership. That is our objective.
How fair a system of local taxation do you think the council tax is?
The council tax is much less unfair than the poll tax which it replaced, which is why we have not made fundamental changes to it. However, we have proposed change to make the system fairer – for example, allowing councils to charge 100 percent tax on long-term empty and second homes which currently qualify for a 50 percent discount.
What’s your vision for the future of local government?
The two priorities for local government are delivering high-quality services and providing effective local leadership, responsive to the needs and aspirations of local communities. Our vision is to make it possible for all local authorities to meet these objectives by giving greater freedoms to high-performing councils and providing support and incentives to all councils to aspire to meet the highest standards.