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History Workshop Journal 2005 59(1):73-82; doi:10.1093/hwj/dbi007
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© History Workshop Journal 2005

From Herbert Morrison to Command and Control: the Decline of Local Democracy and its Effect on Public Services

Jerry White

jwhite{at}compuserve.com

For more than fifty years English local government has come under sustained attack from governments of every political complexion. Such attacks began most importantly with Clem Attlee. They were pursued vigorously with different means under Margaret Thatcher. And they continue as a result of policy confusion under Tony Blair.

There is now an urgent need for debate about the role of local government in England's democratic arrangements. Without it, muddled thinking will continue and an opportunity to deliver truly accountable local services will be lost. The current confusion arises from a crisis. Command-and-control’ delivery of public services from Whitehall is at last seen to be terminally unworkable. But the alternative, ‘New Localism’, consciously bypasses local government through a combination of political anxiety and a reluctance to accept any potential power rival to central government. All this risks a blundering move from a central and over-bureaucratic management system to fractured and unaccountable arrangements at a local level.


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