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Samizdata quote of the day – UK fraying democracy edition Britain is also eerily emulating a pattern of democratic backsliding; from India to Mexico, authoritarian governments “test-drive” what they can get away with at local level first. By conveniently delaying elections at a time when council tax is set to rise, Labour risks setting a wicked precedent for “taxation without representation”.
– Sherelle Jacobs, Daily Telegraph (£).
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“when council tax is about to rise” – Council Tax, in councils that have responsibility for Adult Social Care and Children’s Services goes up by the maximum allowed by law (4.9%).
The statement quoted in the post implies that Council Tax increases are subject to local democratic control and who people vote for makes some sort of fundamental difference – that does not fit the facts.
There is also the point that these councils, the ones that are having elections cancelled, are being abolished anyway.
However, all the above being said – I am still AGAINST cancelling these elections.
Partly because the local government reorganization is pointless – the line that it will “save money” and “deliver better services” is Moonshine.
But also because people should have the opportunity to register a protest – against both the local government reorganization (the creation of bigger councils) and a protest against the national government.
As for Mexico and India.
The government of Mexico is not to my taste, it is a government of the left and I am person of the right.
But, just because I do not like it – does not mean it is not democratic, the majority of Mexicans seem to support it.
And why attack India?
I do not understand why India is being attacked – the last government in India that (arguably) attacked democracy was Mrs Gandhi’s “Emergency Rule” – but that was 50 years ago.
British people, at least in political circles, often talk about our liberty and democracy.
We can argue about the liberty to keep and bear arms (the old definition of a free person), but can we at least agree that liberty includes Freedom of Speech? We have not had Freedom of Speech for quite some time – thousands of people are arrested for their statements, every year.
And is not democracy about electing people who have actual power? Rather than just having elections?
I can tell people, in advance, exactly what their Council Tax increase (from County Councils or Unitary Authorities) will be – regardless of who they elect.
Is this not a bad thing?
And it is not “just” taxation – it is also regulations and basic policies.
Should it not make a difference who you vote for?
Or is “democracy” just a matter of having elections – even if it makes no great difference who is elected?
Insult President Trump as much as you like – and most British people do insult him (endlessly), but electing him makes a difference – he does not just sit there totally unable to change any policies. For example, he has secured the border – and has got the United States to leave various (leftist) international organizations.
The statement quoted in the post implies that Council Tax increases are subject to local democratic control and who people vote for makes some sort of fundamental difference – that does not fit the facts.
Well, I will take your word for it. It will seem, however, mighty incongruous to most people that in a period when taxes that are billed as being local taxes are going up, many local elections are being cancelled, covering more than 4 million voters.
Where I live in central London, council taxes are (gulp) relatively low. That surely has something to do with local political choices down the years.
Paul is right in much of what he says. Central government loads various responsibilities on to local government, of which adult social care is one of the most expensive. For this reason, council taxes rise inexorably. But this is not to say that councils have no power, or that it does not matter who runs them.
My own council used to be Conservative, and was tolerably well run. But for some years now it has been run by Labour, largely due, in my opinion, to marked demographic change. Thanks Boris. The upshot has been a 7.5% rise in council tax this year, despite which, if the council does not get an emergency loan from central government, it will go bankrupt.
So it is very possible for profligate and incompetent councillors (by which I mean Labour, of course) to take a bad situation and make it very much worse.
I am sure Paul and his fellow Conservative councillors must have been most aggrieved by Reform candidates claiming they could do so much better. It is not that easy, but it is possible to do so much worse. That takes very little effort, just a doctrinaire commitment to socialism.
Johnathan Pearce “I will take your word for it”.
It takes about five minutes research to find out that Adult Social Care and Children’s Services are “demand led” which means there is no limit on their budget – so the Council Tax goes up by the maximum allowed by law.
That may not have been true in the past, hence historic “low” council tax in some areas, but it is true now.
Again it takes about five minutes work to find this out – so no one has to “take my word for it” any more than they have to on any other subject.
JohnK
7.5% is, as you know, above the legal limit – they must have got special permission to do that. Parish and Town Councils can do such increases without permission – but no local authority bigger than that.
And, as you also know, loans have to be repaid – so loans are not an answer. Although “PFI” (Private Finance Initiative – basically Higher Purchase) is even worse – that tool of Gordon Brown made borrowing money look good by comparison – PFIs were a massive con, but then “Public-Private-Partnership” normally is a massive con – as well as politically corrupting (Corporate State).
Yes – granted, your council must be specially bad.
Two other things to avoid….
Private companies doing stuff – that may have worked in the past (back in the 1980s) but it has evolved into a massive con, whether it is doing the roads (avoid “Kier” like the plague), or “private providers” looking after children. They are often de facto property developers – they buy houses, at the expense of the local taxpayers, keep a child or two in the house for a couple of years – then sell the property – although the taxpayers paid for the house, the private provider owns the house.
The other thing to avoid is “independent trusts”.
If a “Trust” takes over, for example, Children’s Services, you lose what little control local authorities have over the budget.
Just when you think you are finally making some progress at reducing the scams, you lose your seat – and all the scams come back.
Oh well – can not be helped now.
Paul:
You are right, the central government kindly allowed my council to hike council tax by 7.5%. Thanks, central government.
Really, the things local government is now expected to do are beyond their tax raising powers. The system is broken, which is not to say that a Labour council cannot make things worse.
You are right about the many scams, some of them even legal, which can be pulled on local government by private providers. I often wonder how many of them have relatives working for the council.
On the other hand, SCHOOL Trusts often do well.
Although there are some weird things.
For example, I remember one council school being closed and demolished (years ago now) and then there was a “shortage of school places” (well of course there was – a school had just been closed), so after years of messing about, a new Trust school was built.
The old school could have just been left standing – rather than being demolished, without years of problems and then a new school being built.
Now….
There is now a massive shortage of school places – I suspect because people down in London really believe this nonsense about only a few houses being built, there are actually THOUSANDS of houses being built (and that is just Kettering – it is the same in other towns) – and no school places for the new children. Most likely they think that London murder figures are straight as well.
We are already sending children from the east of Kettering to Rothwell – some miles away (and the school is at the far end of Rothwell).
And forget about school busses – hired cars, which cost a fortune.
Demographic change?
Most certainly YES – from nurseries to junior schools to secondary schools.
Lots of different customs and lots of different languages.
It makes education very difficult.
But I can not blame it for rising crime – as locals are sometimes just as drug addicted and violent as the newcomers.
I can understand that – it is an ugly world, there is nothing pleasant about now – the town has decayed and the bluebell woods (H.E. Bates and all that) have been replaced by the A14 (and other roads) and “sheds” (warehouses – not factories, just warehouses for imported goods, manned by imported people).
Drugs or suicide are what a lot of people think are their only options – why live in a world like this?
There is a vicious circle – despair (“mental illness” although it is a rational reaction to the world as it now is) leads to drugs, and drugs make the mental illness worse, leading to more drugs.
For us “oldies”, who can remember things when life was worth living, I do not know if it is better or worse.
But there are some highlights – for example last week, and ironically on “London Road” Kettering, a chap I know stopped me in the street to joke about the London murder statistics – the pretense that there are not many killings down there “are they calling them manslaughters?” – I do not know what, if any, statistical games are being played.
Humour here tends to be a bit “dark” – for example people jokingly “give thanks” for the Covid “vaccines” when talking about friends and relatives who have died from heart problems or cancer – but humour is still humour, it lightens the mood (even if the humour is dark).
We live one day at a time – till we can not stand to live any more.
As for the insane people on the streets – yes they are problem, they sometimes attack (for example I had a problem with one in town a little while ago) – but we are all only a step or two away from their mental state, and we know it.
So there is a sense of “I will be like you soon”.
John K – yes things can always be made worse.
And they will be made worse.
But out in the villages things are mostly bearable – which is why the rich people have moved out there.
The irony is that some rich people now live in what were tied cottages for farm labourers.
Paul, I wasn’t being dismissive. You’ve been a councillor. I don’t need Google!
To suggest that councils have no power whatever over council tax rates would be a mistake, even if it’s limited, however.
https://www.localis.org.uk/analysis/london-finance-commission-one-decade-raising-capital-paul-honeyben-strategy-director-london-councils/
In any event, if councils’ tax-raising powers rise, then the election postponements being imposed will be clearly even more indefensible.
The Reform party is seeking an urgent court order to prevent the government from postponing local elections due in 2026, as per this court notice.
The hearing is due tomorrow (Tuesday 20th January 2026) and will last 2 hours.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out. The judge, Mr Justice Chamberlain, has a wiki page which says he called for a ‘1st Amendment’ in the UK as the European Convention on Human Rights is too weak to protect free speech.
When you don’t have elections coded into a constitution, what do you expect?
Relevant?
https://dailysceptic.org/2026/01/19/britain-is-quietly-bankrupting-itself-driving-children-to-school/
I hope I did not give the impression that either Mexico or India have Freedom of Speech – in reality there are “hate speech” regulations in both countries. But it is hard to see how the situation in these countries, as regards Freedom of Speech – or democracy, is worse that in the United Kingdom.
JohnK – if it was conventional corruption it would not be so bad as what actually happens.
What happens is that some vast corporation arrives – talks in a language that no one can understand, and the local government officers (who pretend to understand – but really do not) say we must obey.
Then one looks at (for example) the broken down roads – with patches right next to potholes that have not been done (so the “repair” will last a few days – if that) – in spite of endless money being given to the corporation.
One of the great mistakes we made, long ago now, was to confuse corporations (the Corporate State) with a private enterprise.
And I mean “we” – I made that mistake myself.
Johnathan Pearce – I apologize for misunderstanding you.
I repeat – if a council has responsibility for Adult Social Care and Children’s Services – then its Council Tax will increase by the legal maximum (unless it gets permission to increase them even more).
Parish Councils can do what they like – but normally they only charge a small sum of money per year.
A Parish Council I am on just increased its “precept” by about 60% (not 6 – 60), for no reason that I could see. There was no clear spending plan or anything like that.
It was the first time in my life I have ever voted against a budget – because I do not believe it to have been a proper budget.
If there is “all party agreement” on something, either locally or nationally, it is normally bad – indeed terrible.
Look at the voting numbers for such things as the Environment Act or the Equality Act.
“This is policy” (say the officials) or “this is the law” (even if it has not been passed yet – and so is NOT “the law”) “everyone must support it” – because of some international treaty or other.
The same at local level – “we have to spend X million on Green stuff” – why “have to”?
Ditto Diversity and Inclusion policy – and-so-on.
If you resist – there is more “training” and threats of removal for “bringing the authority into disrepute”.
Paul:
The whole SEND system is a huge drain on resources.
My old primary school was demolished about 20 years ago. It was a shame because it had happy memories for me. A “special school” was built on the site, and at 3 o’clock the taxis begin to back up outside it as they collect the children. How much it all costs I dread to think.
My local boys’ grammar school was closed down and demolished in the 1990s, by a Conservative council (!) because apparently at the time the population was falling. Tony Blair soon put a stop to that. The site of the school was filled with housing, presumably for people with no children.
Now both boys and girls must share the old girls’ grammar school, which means that entry to the grammar school is much harder than it used to be. This has led to an explosion of tutoring. Those who cannot pay for tutors do not get in. Very fair.
The council raised £6.75 million by selling the land off for development. They could spend that in an afternoon and not notice it, but the school is gone forever. What a travesty.
JohnK
It is indeed grim all over the country – and has been for many years now,
Whether it is the destruction of beautiful buildings or of key institutions (or both).
Hospitals that were created by voluntary donations, and maintained by dedicated effort – closed down on whims.
There were, when the NHS (that copy of the Soviet system created in the 1920s) was created, almost half a million hospital beds – now, with a vastly larger population, there are just a bit over one hundred thousand.
Ancient Grammar Schools destroyed – again on whims.
Clubs and societies gone, the Friendly Societies (fraternities) a shadow of their former selves – the state taking over everything.
And, instead, endless housing estates and warehouses full of imported goods – “paid for” by borrowing
It is hard not to despair.