The state and local government

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography.

213 For an earlier abbreviated version of this Chapter see Latham, 2009c.

214 R. Miliband, 1969. Ralph Miliband (1924-1994) in 1949 became Assistant Lecturer in Political Science and then Senior Lecturer at the London School of Economics where he remained until 1972 when he was appointed Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds. After leaving Leeds in 1978, Miliband became a roving academic teacher for the rest of his life spending much time in North America.

215 M. Newman, 2002, pp. 202-203, his emphasis.

216 R. Miliband, 1977, p. 74, his emphasis.

217 R. Miliband, 1983, p. 62.

218 Ibid., p. 65, his emphases.

219 R. Miliband, 1984, p. 99.

220 Ibid., pp. 100-109.

221 Ibid., pp. 109-121.

222 Ibid., pp. 76-77.

223 For example, according to J.A. Chandler, Marxist theories of the state and local government ‘may have seemed reasonable in the nineteenth century but cannot explain the current role of central and local government in providing support and welfare for the least able in society’ (2009, p. 84).

224 Miliband, 1984, p. 139.

225 Ibid., p. 140.

226 C. Cockburn, 1977, p. 41.

227 Ibid., pp. 41-42.

228 Ibid., p. 47 note 7 and p. 54 note 18.

229 S. Duncan and M. Goodwin, 1988, p. 33.

230 Ibid., p. 34.

231 Ibid. See also S. Duncan and M. Goodwin, 1982, pp. 77-96.

232 Duncan and Goodwin, 1988, p. 34.

233 See A. Cawson and P. Saunders, 1983.

234 Cited in Duncan and Goodwin, 1988, op. cit., p. 35.

235 P. Dunleavy, 1984, p. 54, p. 76.

236 Duncan and Goodwin, 1988, p. 37, their emphasis.

237 Ibid., p. 38.

238 Ibid., p. 41.

239 Ibid., p. 42.

240 Ibid., p. 68-69.

241 Ibid., p. 71.

242 Although I have previously used the term ‘local state’ instead of ‘local government’ – see P. Latham, 2001 – for the reasons given here I no longer do. The latter development in my thinking stems from discussions I have had with the Marxist historian John Foster concerning in particular the a-historical aspect of Cockburn’s work.

243 C. Stoney, 1998, p. 14.

244 Ibid., p. 15.

245 Ibid.

246 Ibid., pp. 16-17.

247 See D. Burns et al, 1994.

248 See S. Weir and W. Hall, 1994.

249 Cited in Stoney, 1998, p. 18.

250 A. Cochrane, 1991, p. 285.

251 SWOT = strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

252 Cited in Stoney, 1998, p. 15.

253 See D. Farnham and S. Horton, 1993.

254 See C. Hood, 1991.

255 Farnham and Horton, 1993, p. 248.

256 Ibid., pp. 248-249.

257 Cochrane, 1991, p, 290.

258 Ibid., p. 291.

259 Stoney, 1998, p. 20.

260 Farnham and Horton, 1993, p. 248.

261 Stoney, 1998, p. 20.

262 A.M. Pettigrew et al, 1992, p. 11.

263 Stoney, 1998, p. 22.

264 Ibid.

265 Ibid., pp. 22-23.

266 Ibid., p. 23.

267 ‘The European Services Strategy Unit (continuing the work of the Centre for Public Services) is an independent, non-profit organisation, founded in 1973. It is committed to social justice through the provision of good quality public services by democratically accountable public bodies implementing best practice management, employment, equal opportunity and sustainable development policies. ESSU provides detailed research and analysis of regional and city economies and public sector provision, marketisation and privatisation, modernisation and public management, infrastructure and public private partnerships, jobs and employment policies and impact assessment. It provides a range of services to government, public bodies, community groups and trade unions’ (http://users.european-services-strategy.org.uk/). Dexter Whitfield is also an Associate Professor at the Australian Institute for Social Research, University of Adelaide.

268 D. Whitfield, 2006a, p. 7.

269 Ibid., pp. 7-8.

270 Ibid. p. 23.

271 Ibid., Table 1, pp. 25-26.

272 Ibid., p. 29.

273 Ibid.

274 D. Whitfield, 2006b, p. 17.

275 Ibid.

276 Ibid.

277 Ibid., p. 55.

278 Ibid.

279 Ibid., p. 29. See also Table 2: ‘Key events in marketisation and privatisation since 1980’, pp. 30-31; and D. Whitfield, 1992 and 2001.

280 http://users.european-services-strategy.org.uk/.

281 Whitfield, 2006b, pp. 70-71.

282 See http://www.marxists.org/history/england/peasants-revolt/story.htm.

283 T. Byrne, 2000, p. 14.

284 The first great debate on the transition from feudalism to capitalism was started by the publication in 1946 of Maurice Dobb's Studies in the Development of Capitalism, and the second was begun by Robert Brenner (see M. Dobb, 1963, R. Brenner, 1976 and R.H. Hilton, 1976). In contrast to Brenner's focus upon the aristocrats transforming themselves from feudal lords to capitalist landowners, Dobb's focus was on small producers rising to become capitalists. Dobb's thesis that capitalism in its revolutionary form developed from the ranks of the small producers led him to argue that the smaller gentry and rising yeomen were a most important driving force in the bourgeois revolution of the 17th century. His view of the transition helps to explain the crucial role of the 'middle sort' in the parliamentary party and in driving forward the revolution (Dobb, 1963, p. 171). Brenner's thesis ignores industrial development before 1640 and so cannot explain why industrial districts – though not all of them – provided a main base for the parliamentarian and revolutionary parties. Dobb stressed the development of industrial capitalism before 1640 and the parliamentarianism of industrial districts. This is supported by subsequent research (see Brian Manning’s 1994 review of Brenner’s Merchants and Revolution, 1993).

285 P. Feldman, 2008a, pp. 14-15.

286 J. Saville, 1994.

287 Feldman, 2008a, p. 16.

288 J. Foster, 1977, pp. 1-2.

289 Ibid., Chapter 3 ‘Labour and State Power’.

290 Byrne, 2000, pp. 16-17.

291 Harvey and Hood, 1958, p. 241.

292 Byrne, 2000, p. 17.

293 Ibid., pp. 18-19. See also the analysis of the City of London in Chapter 6.

294 Harvey and Hood, 1958, p. 242.

295 Ibid. p. 243.

296 See Branson, 1979, Chapter 6 ‘Prison’, pp. 61-81.

297 Harvey and Hood, 1958, pp. 245-46.

298 C. Leys, 1989, p. 348, p. 349.

299 J. Booth, 2009, pp. 135-136. The quote here is from The Communist, 28 October 1922.

300 B. Donoughue and G. Jones, 1973, p. 79.

301 J. Booth, 2009, p. 135.

302 B. Keith-Lucas and P.G. Richards, 1978, p. 15.

303 Leys, 1989, p. 345.

304 G.D.H. Cole, 1948b, p. 144.

305 Keith-Lucas and Richards, 1978, p. 40.

306 See T. Burgess and T. Travers, 1980, pp. 24-8.

307 Duncan and Goodwin, 1988, p. 99.

308 G. Rhodes, 1970, p. 108.

309 J. Dearlove, Cambridge, 1979, p. 103.

310 Communist Party of Britain, 2008c, p. 19.

311 See D. Massey, 1995; and R. Dulong, 1978.

312 See J. Foster and C. Woolfson, 1986 and 1999.

313 Maud Report, 1967, Bains Report, 1972.

314 See Dearlove, 1979, chapters 5-6, Cockburn, 1977, op. cit., Chapter 1 and J. Benington, 1976.

315 Cockburn, 1977, pp. 27-8.

316 T. Knight, 1981, p. 11.

317 Duncan and Goodwin, 1988, p. 98.

318 Ibid., p. 99. All these figures are for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; and, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government (2009a), the proportion in 2007/08 was still only 27 per cent.

319 J. Booth, 2009, p. 130. See also D. Skinner and J. Langdon, 1974.

320 Duncan and Goodwin, 1988, p. 229.

321 Ibid., p. 237.

322 Ibid.

323 Leys, 1998, p. 355.

324 H. Atkinson and S. Wilks-Heeg, 2000, p. 73.

325 See P. Latham, 2003, and Chapter 7.

326 Byrne, 2000, p. 67-8.

327 Dearlove, 1979, p. 105.

328 House of Commons Library, 2008, p. 14.

329 Wilson and Game, 1998, p. 227, their emphasis.

330 See W. Hall and S. Weir, 1996 and ‘The Rise of the Quangocracy’, Local Government Chronicle, 30 August 1996.

331 Municipal Journal, 22 February 2002.

332 P. Latham, 2001, p. 18.

333 NLGN, Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2000, p. 8.

334 Though 12 of these (including Arthur Anderson, Enron’s former auditors) were no longer sponsors by September 2002 (P. Latham, 2003, pp. 34-5). The latter publication was sent to every Labour councillor in England, Scotland and Wales by the GMB.

335 Latham, 2001, p. 20, Latham, 2003, pp. 34-5.

336 The Municipal Journal, 31 July 2008. An e-mail, according to Unison, sent by BSA Chief Executive Mark Fox on 27 May 2010 to members states that as a result of "private meetings" with shadow and now serving ministers it was understood that a provision protecting public servants' pensions after privatisation is to be abolished. The requirement to retain decent pensions...has been a key complaint from privateers hoping to squeeze maximum profits out of privatisation' (P. McGuffin, 'Con-Dems plot to rip up pension rights', Morning Star, 14 June 2010).

337 Jack Cunningham – the former New Labour minister now Baron Cunningham of Felling in the County of Tyne and Wear – is the City of London Corporation’s political adviser. On 22 July 2009 a House of Lords disciplinary panel, after 15 months' investigation, decided he was not required to declare in a public register his paid work for the City of London Corporation. Cunningham receives £36,000 a year for working an estimated three hours a week (R. Evans, ‘Former cabinet minister Lord Cunningham absolved in sleaze inquiry’, The Guardian, 23 July 2009).

338 http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/926, http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/thefridayinquisition/2390706.

339 R. Aldridge and G. Stoker, 2002, back cover.

340 P. Gosling, 2003, p. 20.

341 The Sunday Telegraph, 30 December 2001.

342 Latham, 2003, note 66, p. 46.

343 Latham, 2003, p. 17.

344 Labour Party, 1997.

345 For example, as was the case with earlier editions, the latest editions of the standard texts by David Wilson and Chris Game and J.A. Chandler contain no reference to the NLGN. See D. Wilson and C. Game, 2006 and J.A. Chandler, 2009. T. Byrne, 2000, refers to NLGN in his ‘Glossary’ as ‘a pressure group seeking to modernise and enhance local government’ (p. xvi).

346 The Municipal Journal 1 March 2002.

347 The Municipal Journal 8 March 2002.

348 Ibid.

349 The Guardian, 11 May 2005.

350 Confederation of British Industry, Public Service Matters, Summer 2005, p. 5.

351 House of Commons Library, 2009a, p. 3.

352 Ibid., p. 1.

353 K. Day, ‘Byers’ adviser returns to his think-tank roots’, Public Finance July 12-18 2002, pp. 10-11, p. 10.

354 Ibid., p. 11.

355 Ibid., p. 6.

356 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002, para 20, p. 12 and para 38, p. 16.

357 H. Jameson, ‘Failing councils face new poll for elected mayors’, The Municipal Journal, 22 August 2002.

358 Ibid.

359 Ibid.

360 P. Latham, 2000b.

361 Conservative Party, 2009a, p. 22, their emphasis.

362 See Chapter 14 note 3.

363 See Chapter 7 and P. Latham, 2003, p. 3.

364 Cited in K. Orr, 2005, p. 309. Orr here is quoting from one of Councillor Tom Davidson’s many letters to the local government press when he was the Vice-Chair of the LCOLG. Davidson was recently informed that he is ‘not suitable to stand in the local elections as a Labour candidate’ (email to P. Latham dated 31 July 2009).

365 Latham, 2000b.

366 The Guardian, 11 April 2000.

367 P. Latham, 2000a.

368 Latham, 2001, p. 10.

369 For example, on the 19 March 2009, the London Borough of Brent’s Highways Committee ‘comprised only of members of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative administration...voted by 3 votes to 2 to ignore the vote of full council and press ahead with the ill conceived scheme’ to narrow the Kingsbury Road. As Labour Councillor Jim Moher stated: “At the last Brent Council election the Liberal Democrats polled fewer votes than either Labour or the Tories. They didn’t win a single seat in the Kingsbury area. They do not have an overall majority on the council yet by virtue of a single vote majority on the Highways Committee they have been able to impose this scheme on the people of Kingsbury” (R. Cotton, Brent Labour Group Member Services Manager, press release dated 20 March 2009).

370 G. Stoker et al, 2007, p. 23.

371 K. Edkins, 2009.

372 Carmarthenshire County Council, 2009; Gwynedd Council, 2008; Powys County Council, 2009.

373 Solace and COSLA, 2003, p. 20.

374 House of Commons Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee, 2002.

375 Ibid., p. 14.

376 Ibid., pp. 15-16.

377 Ibid., p. 11, their emphasis.

378 Ibid., p. 17.

379 See C. Copus and S. Leach, 2004.

380 Chandler, 2009, p. 97.

381 Municipal Journal, 17 May 2002.

382 Stoker et al, October 2007, Table 10, p. 36.

383 Ibid., Table 24, p. 29.

384 Ibid., p. 50.

385 Ibid., p. 54.

386 Ibid., p. 57.

387 Ibid., Table 24.

388 Ibid., p. 59.

389 Ibid., p. 85.

390 House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, 2009b, p. 192.

391 House of Commons Environment, Transport and Regional  Affairs Committee (2001).

392 House of Commons Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee (2002) para 20 and 43, their emphasis.

393 The survey of 386 local authorities (excluding Corporation of London and Isles of Scilly) in England was conducted in winter 2008. A total of 324 authorities responded (83.9 per cent). See LGA, 2009c, pp. 1-2.

394 Local Government Chronicle, 29 May 1998.

395 Moreover, in Croydon, where the New Labour leadership voluntarily introduced the leader cabinet system prior to the 2000 legislation coming into effect, the Leader’s allowance in 2005/06 just before Labour lost control of the council was £50,588 – that is, over four and a half times greater than the £11,264 paid to backbench councillors. Similarly, in 2005/06, the Deputy Labour Leader received £44,073, which was four times that paid to backbench councillors; and each of the other eight Labour cabinet members received between £41,173 and £41,091, which was over three and a half times that paid to backbench councillors (Croydon Council Members’ Allowances Scheme 2005/06). Tragically, the main concern of several of these ex-cabinet members – when they realised New Labour had lost control of Croydon in May 2006 – was not the implications for their working class voters: but how to pay the bigger mortgages they had taken out during their time as cabinet members. Ironically, moreover, the differentials fell in 2006/07 when the Tory Leader of the Council received £40,355, his Deputy £33,777 and each of his cabinet members £30,707 (Croydon Council Members’ Allowances Scheme (2006/07). In 2007/08 the Tory Leader received £51,951 and his cabinet members an average of £37,922 (Croydon Council Members’ Allowances Scheme 2007/08).

396 I. Austen, ‘Councillor with four jobs is told to give one role up’, Croydon Advertiser, 11 September 2009.

397 M. Crick, ‘The Political Club’, BBC Radio 4, 23 August 2009.

398 Department for Communities and Local Government, 2006, para 3.20.

399 Stoker et al, October 2007, p. 88.

400 C. Leslie and G. Lodge, 2008.

401 House of Commons, 2009. See also Jonathan Porritt’s critique on his blog dated December 22, 2008,