The Scoop

Forget the boroughs. It's time we gave their powers to the Mayor

Adam Bienkov | Wednesday 9 February, 2011 08:57

Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster are the latest London councils to share some of their services to save money.

We’ve already seen other boroughs do this and no doubt we’ll see many more in the future.

Now obviously it’s not the promised new era of localism but it is a sensible reaction to the largest local government cuts in a generation.

However I do wonder whether we’re not all missing the obvious solution here.

Because surely the biggest savings could be made by sharing those services right across London?

I mean why do we need 32 different waste collection and recycling schemes, education authorities, health and social care departments in a city that has a directly elected Mayor?

As it is Londoners already use many services across borough boundaries, be it schools, leisure services or hospitals. Their need doesn’t stop at the border so why should the service?

Now I’m not saying everything should be delivered London-wide, and merging services overnight would incur some extra short-term costs.

But in the long-term I believe that most services could be delivered more efficiently, directly and I believe with greater accountability at a London-wide level.

Of course these extra powers would need to be accompanied with greater democratic oversight, but more power would in itself force greater scrutiny on the work of the Mayor.

Because as it is the Mayor of London is a king without a sword. He has the title but few actual powers.

And for all the talk of boosting his role, the most he’s likely to get in the coming years is a bit more control over grass-cutting and dog turds.

So let’s stop messing around with ragtag coalitions of ideologically aligned councils and come up with a real solution for London government.

We have a Mayoralty with a large mandate and profile but few powers, and 32 councils with smaller mandates, lower profiles, but far more powers.

Isn’t it time we rebalanced that equation?

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