The Conservative leadership has made it clear that the public should use your performance in local government as a guide to how you would govern the country should the electorate so choose.

We have serious concerns about your record in local government and believe there is overwhelming evidence that the approaches taken by Tory Councils would have a profoundly destabilising effect on middle and low income families across the country if implemented nationally. To take just three examples:

The leader of the ‘flagship’ Tory Council, Wandsworth, Cllr Eddie Lister, has argued that local councils should hike up the prices of local services as far as they can go:
‘We will look to increase charges as far as possible beyond inflation so that consumers of the services are bearing the full cost without any hidden subsidy from the taxpayer’

Barnet Council, which has adopted a ‘no frills, budget airline’ approach, has reduced services for local people and introduced policies that benefit the wealthiest, such as allowing people to pay to jump queues in the planning process.

And Harlow Council has refused the Government’s offer of funding to halve rent increases for council tenants this year while cutting funding for the local Harlow Advice Centre by 80% despite receiving money from the Government to improve advice services that people need on debt.

These practices, and there are many similar examples across other Tory Councils, hit middle and low income families the hardest and if a similar approach were to be implemented nationally then you would indeed help to break British society.

The public could be forgiven for assuming that the one upside from Tory councils of an approach driven by cuts and additional charges would be lower levels of Council tax. Yet Council tax levels set by top-tier councils in April 2009 show households in Labour authorities pay on average £204 less than those living in Tory areas.

Your pledge to freeze Council tax for two years lacks credibility. It both contradicts your pledge only to protect health and overseas aid budgets, and HM Treasury figures suggest it would cost £470million more than you first claimed. Moreover, you have said it would be funded through reducing consultancy and advertising budgets, yet these budgets have already been committed to reduce the deficit. Given this lack of coherence, it is unsurprising that even your own frontbench colleagues appear confused, with Justine Greening unable to confirm in the House when the freeze would take effect or whether abolition of the RDAs would be used to pay for the freeze.

As the public prepares to make its choice on the future Government of the country, they deserve a more open and transparent approach to how you would govern the country.

As former Secretaries of State with responsibility for local government, we are acutely aware of the need for openness and setting a clear direction. We would therefore challenge you to state whether you would encourage the approach adopted by the Tory Councils mentioned above or to distance yourself from them. We would also ask you to explain how you would improve services without introducing additional charges while also reducing Council tax levels to those charged by Labour Councils.

Hazel Blears
Stephen Byers

Photo: Welsh Icons (Dom) 2006