It looks like Clegg is spitting out his dummy but Nanny Pickles is shoving it back in. Reported in the LGC Nick Clegg is apparently at ‘loggerheads with Eric Pickles over the introduction of a basket of new local taxes and charges as the deputy prime minister battles to stamp his party’s own brand of localism on to the coalition government’.
It doesn’t look like Naughty Nick has had much success. In a leaked letter Clegg threatened Pickles with launching the scope of the review into local government finance at a speech due to the Core Cities Summit on the 14 January but in the end he backed down and made a tame speech about coalition progress.
Pickles has made it clear, backed by Oliver Letwin, that the review will be tight and merely focus on business rate reform. Clegg wanted to reopen the debate on the funding of local government and wider issues of reform including critically the future of council housing finance.
Of course as Pickles comes under increasing attack, even for the Tory led LGA leadership, he will be hyper sensitive to open up any debate on the fairness of council funding. Pickles may believe he has now won round one but watch this space.
Pickles started off assuming that his ‘robust’ aka bullying approach, to force through deeper and faster cuts on local government than any other area of the state, would be rewarded by him being Duke Dave’s blue eyed boy. He is now an embarrassing caricature of himself. Any bets on how long he will last?
http://www.lgcplus.com/policy-and-politics/clegg-goes-into-battle-over-finance-review/5024199.article
Anna Rose
