This was a ‘backbench’ debate secured by the Tory MP for Dover Charlie Elphicke. The motion was ‘That this House supports the Big Society, seeking stronger communities where power is decentralised and social action encouraged.’ After several dozen speeches, we were no nearer a clear sense of what the Big Society means. But at least some MPs got to make clever-sounding speeches.
Cameron’s problem with the Big Society is two-fold. Firstly, its vagueness allows it to be imbued with whatever meaning its proponents (and critics) choose. It’s like one of those Rorschach tests. Stare at the ink-blots and you might see a pretty flower, or you might see a headless corpse. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. For the Tories it can mean a return to pre-1945 society, with a smaller state with fewer state employees, more charitable works by worthy folk, and lower taxes. It can speak to the Burkean tradition of a settled social order, noblesse oblige and the kinds of social attitudes satirised in Betjeman’s poem In Westminster Abbey:
‘Think of what our Nation stands for,
Books from Boots’ and country lanes,
Free speech, free passes, class distinction,
Democracy and proper drains.’
The Tory MP Jesse Norman’s book the Big Society has the nerve to the subtitled ‘the anatomy of the new politics’. I read it on a train journey through Sussex, and reached the seaside without any sign of new politics. Lots of old politics though: it’s all the state’s fault, the evil doctrine of Fabianism is to blame, we need a ‘leaner state’ and so on. David Cameron said of the Big Society ‘you can call it liberalism. You can call it empowerment. You can it freedom. You can call it responsibility. I call it the Big Society.’ He might as well have said ‘You can call it chocolate. You can call it elephants. You can call it daffodils. You can call it porridge. I call it Belgium’.
For Labour, the Big Society can be defined as democratic socialism. If you look at the motion at the start of this article I doubt you’ll find much to disagree with. You can apply the ‘opposite’ test to it. Who would be in favour of weaker communities, where power is centralised and social action discouraged?
Several Labour MPs made heroic efforts in the debate to expropriate the Big Society for socialism. Jon Cruddas referred to a pamphlet by Hazel Blears The Politics of Decency which he said ‘set out many of the terms of the current debate.’ Liz Kendall was one of several colleagues to refer to cooperatives, mutuals and friendly societies ‘established to protect working people from the consequences, not of an overbearing state, but of unfettered markets.’ Tristram Hunt weighed in with ‘associationism’ Tom Paine, Robert Owen, and the Rochdale Pioneers. Keir Hardie, John F Kennedy, Hobbes and TS Eliot all made an appearance during the course of the evening.
The Big Society can be either left-wing or right-wing, a definition of conservatism or socialism, or absolutely devoid of any meaning at all. Sometimes the ink-blots just look like ink-blots.
Cameron’s second problem with the Big Society goes beyond a lack of meaning. It is the same problem that John Major had with ‘Back to Basics’. The phrase was used by the prime minister at the 1993 Conservative Party conference in an attempt to relaunch the government after Black Wednesday, when the Tories mislaid £3.3 billion of our money. Major set out what he meant by ‘back to basics’: law & order, fewer single mothers, and classroom discipline.
Whatever misty-eyed nonsense Back to Basics was meant to mean, it became synonymous with a string of financial and sexual scandals involving senior Tories. Fleet Street used ‘back to basics’ as the green light to expose every whisper of Tory immorality. Front page splashes included Tim Yeo’s love-child, the Earl of Caithness’ wife’s suicide following his extra-marital affair, Stephen Milligan’s tragic accidental death, Piers Merchant’s affair with a teenage nightclub hostess, Tim Smith’s and Graham Riddick’s ‘cash for questions’ and Jonathon Aitken’s alleged involvement with procuring prostitutes for Arab businessmen. The phrase ‘back to basics’ became toxic like strychnine.
The same is happening to Cameron’s ‘Big Society’. Cameron says ‘Big Society’ but people only hear ‘cuts’. I even heard someone refer to the ‘big society cuts’ the other day. There was another parliamentary debate this week, about the closure of Sure Start centres across Britain because of Tory cuts. This time, no Burke and Paine, just outrage from MPs such as Luciana Berger and Stephen Twigg who are fighting to ensure their local Sure Starts can help Liverpool kids to get a better life.
You can’t close Sure Starts and expect people to believe in your ‘Big Society’.
oh HEADLESS CORPSE definitely ! tee hee ,we are all supposed to be a zombie chain gang that’s for sure. But we just won’t we won’t we won’t stomp stomp stomp………… bang.
Good piece Paul. I think knee jerk attacks on the Big Society let them off the hook on too big, too fast cuts. From my memory, though, cash for questions was Riddick and Treddinick. ST set sting for 20 MPs, 10 of each real party. The Labour 10 told them to stuff it. 8 Tories said yes of whom 6 were wary and never took the money. R&T did.
Here’s what Big Soc is from those at the community face. I am surprised that so few people know! Much if it is what Labour was doing. I aven’t the resources to actually investigate what was /is /did happen under laabour , what will happen after cuts. Any student in need of a big project? The Big Society – What’s the idea? The Government has a vision for a Big Society. A society that puts the power and opportunity in the hands of the people, a society were every citizen takes responsibility and a society were there is fairness and opportunity for all. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said of the Big Society, “the essence of the Big Society is trusting people to know what needs doing, with Government enabling them instead of getting in their way.” The vision is clearly one of localism, the shift of power from central to local Government. The Government have outlined what they think needs to be done to achieve their vision of a Big Society and translate the vision into reality. These measures include: ∑ Give communities more power by – Reforming the planning system Training a generation of community organisers Giving communities the right to bid to take over local state run services ∑ Encourage people to take an active role in their communities by- Encouraging involvement in volunteering and social action Launching a national Big Society Day Introducing measures to encourage charitable giving Introducing a National Citizen Service (page 2) ∑ Transfer power from central to local government by- Promoting the devolution of power to local government Abolishing Regional Spatial Strategies Giving Councils a general power of competence ∑ Support co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises by- Supporting the creation and expansion of mutuals, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises Supporting mutuals, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises to have greater involvement in the running of services Giving public sector workers a new right to form employee owned cooperatives and bid to take over the services they deliver Using funds from dormant bank accounts to establish a Big Society Bank (page 2) ∑ Publish government data by – Creating a new ‘right to data’ so Government held datasets can be requested and used by the public and published on a regular basis Obliging the police to publish detailed local crime statistics every month In May 2010, Lord Nat Wei was appointed as Government Advisor on the Big Society. Lord Wei’s role is to advise the Government on all aspects of taking forward the Big Society agenda. Other key members of the Government who will be working alongside Lord Wei with responsibility for delivering on the Big Society agenda are: Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Greg Clark, Minister for Decentralisation. Components of the Big Society National Citizen Service (NCS) NCS is being marketed as a ‘gateway to the Big Society’ for young people. The aim is to encourage more young people to develop the skills and attitudes the Government believes are necessary to play an active role in communities. A pilot will run for 10,000 young people from June – Sept 2011. The organisations that have been successful in the tendering exercise will be announced at the end of October. It is anticipated that NCS will last for around 7-8 weeks and will include opportunities for young people to develop life skills such as managing a budget and cooking meals. Big Society Bank The idea of the Big Society Bank is to ensure that all the money from dormant bank accounts (made available to England) is put to good use for the benefit of society. This will be done by investing funds through social investors and community lenders. The Bank is also expected to create opportunities for social action and community involvement by helping to attract extra private sector investment. Work has started on drawing up a blue print for the Big Society Bank including meetings between the Office of Civil Society and social lenders to discuss the structure of the bank. It is expected to be April 2011 when the first funds are available through the Big Society bank. Big Society Communities David Cameron announced in July that there will be four Big Society communities, also known as ‘vanguard’ areas. The communities are in Sutton, Windsor and Maidenhead, Eden Valley in Cumbria and Liverpool. The four areas will receive targeted and tailored help from the Government with the aim of supporting the communities to overcome bureaucratic barriers and take greater responsibility for the decisions that affect the local area and local people. The Government has pledged the following measures to the four Big Society Communities: ∑ A firm commitment to respond constructively to every request made by the big society communities for new rights and powers to take control of their cities, towns, villages and neighbourhoods. ∑ Dedicated support from officials from the Department of Communities and Local Government to help the big society communities overcome and break down any barriers they encounter as they seek to take power and responsibility. ∑ A community organiser to help each community coordinate local support for and involvement in its plans. Challenges and opportunities There has been much debate about the Government’s concept of a Big Society since it was first talked about by David Cameron in the pre election build up. The Big Society has been described by some as a fig leaf for public spending cuts and a drive to deliver more for less – a desire to shrink the state in the name of localism. For many within the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) the concept of a ‘Big Society’ is nothing new, many VCS organisations are already delivering the ‘Big Society’. The Government’s message is that we are all in it together. Throughout discussions on the Big Society there has been a clear emphasis on the VCS. The Government will be looking to the VCS to deliver services and partly to instigate community action. This is an opportunity to shape the agenda and consider different ways of working e.g. co-production. VCS organisations will need to prepare themselves to be able to deliver transformational services which may mean a shift in priorities. New opportunities to deliver services will also bring the challenge of building the capacity of communities to enable them to take up these new opportunities. As many organisations are coping with in year cuts with more expected post 20th October, it is difficult to see where the resources will come from to build the necessary capacity. An additional challenge that some organisations fear is the risk that the ‘Big Society’ may increase inequality. The concern is that as service delivery organisations are given greater freedom they may place less emphasis on communities that are most excluded and the shift to localism will impact disproportionately on minority communities. In addition, with the shift to localism and communities of place, there are concerns that pan-equality type approaches will be sidelined. The current policy agenda surrounding the Big Society clearly has momentum and doesn’t look to be going away in the near future. Therefore, the VCS should take this opportunity to not only seek to influence the agenda but to set the agenda. Suggested actions / follow-up Visit the CN4M website for the latest updates on ‘Big Society’ developments http://www.cn4m.net/node/3970 Additional sources of information Building the Big Society – http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/407789/building-big-society.pdf One North West – http://www.onenorthwest.org.uk/documents.asp?adv=simple§ion=Key+Documents VSNW Big Society Policy Resource – http://www.bigcivilsociety.blogspot.com/ Produced by: Community Network for Manchester Date: September 2010
“enterprise is not just about markets its about morals too” you are “rolling up your sleeves and working hard” (!) to tell this to whom Dave? All very paternalistic and finger pointy but you cannot be David and Goliath at the same time ! WHAT new industries for WHICH deprived areas? Profits to go to whom ? to be kept where ? wakey wakey from YOUR dream to sell this picture,we are post cubist now , people can see round the back, you are rumbled. “Town hall officials who take forever to make planning decisions” Yes ,because people’s communities are not just commodities to be used for Tory power by association with uber wealthy profit monger chums. This Tory-ish government is just a blip, tick tick tick tick ( and have we really lost eight SAS Soldiers in Libya ? oh well done, listen to NATO next time.)
thank god it didn’t get worse and we got the soldiers out.
Dun da da dun da dun,und zee “ENEMIES OF ENTERPRISE ” fight them where ? on the beaches ! (are they bankers ? are they leaving? ) ooh look the empire strikes back oooh look its got its own flag ( that’s ours as well isn’t ? have they gone into coalition with those racist bods,yeah well that would fit after that other speech he made )of course its only blah blah to the latest collated demographic votes are us! get them anywhere you can ,gutter even !
OK so now Rifkind says we need to get ” intelligence ” in to assist Libyans (oh no sorry he said guns ,intelligence was someone else) Well perhaps Hague the vague can intelligently pick more intelligent intelligence next time so they don’t get picked up by a couple of farmers? !