Abstract
This final chapter will consider the current state of local finances, concentrating particularly on the topical and highly controversial question of recent government policy. The government has introduced some wide-reaching legislation in the last few years, with still more to come, and in this rapidly changing situation it is not possible to provide a completely up-to-date account of the system. It is also difficult to take a detached view of the particularly heated battle which envelops local government at present. Nevertheless most writers agree that the policies and practices of the Conservative governments elected in 1979 and 1983 introduce profound questions for the future of local democracy in Britain, so some attempt at an assessment of the present state of affairs should be made.
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Notes and References
For a fuller discussion of cash limits see N.P. Hepworth, The Finance of Local Government, revised 5th edn (London: Allen & Unwin, 1979), 41–2.
See especially W.A. Robson, Local Government in Crisis, 2nd revised edn (London: Allen & Unwin, 1968).
Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Local Government Finance (Layfield Committee), Cmnd 6453 (London: HMSO, 1976).
On this development see H. Wolman, ‘Understanding local government responses to fiscal pressure: a cross national analysis’, Journal of Public Policy, III, 3 (August 1983), 245–64
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For a detailed discussion of the metropolitan counties see S. Bristow, D. Kermode and M. Mannin (eds), The Redundant Counties? (Ormskirk, Lancs: G.W. and A. Hesketh, 1983)
For an account of both financial and non-financial changes see M. Goldsmith and K. Newton, ‘Central-Local Government relations: the irresistible rise of centralised power’, in H. Berrington (ed.), Changes in British Politics (London: Frank Cass, 1984), 216–33.
See R.A.W. Rhodes, ‘Continuity and change in British central-local relations: “The Conservative threat”, 1979–1983’, British Journal of Political Science, 14 (April 1984), 273–4.
See, for example, A. Midwinter, M. Keating and P. Taylor, ‘Excessive and unreasonable: the politics of the Scottish hit lists’, Political Studies, 31 (September 1983), 394–417.
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For figures and a discussion of local government spending, 1972–83, see R.A.W. Rhodes, The National World of Local Government (London: Allen & Unwin, 1985), ch. 4.
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P. Dunleavy and R.A.W. Rhodes, ‘Beyond Whitehall’, in H. Drucker et al. (eds), Developments in British Politics (London: Macmillan, 1984), 128.
See, for example, A. Midwinter, M. Keating and P. Taylor, ‘Current expenditure guidelines in Scotland: a failure of indicative planning’, Local Government Studies, 10 (March/April 1984), 70.
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J. Gibson, ‘Local “Overspending”: Why the Government have only themselves to blame’, Public Money, 3 (December 1983).
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See, for example, J. Knott, ‘Stabilization policy, grants-in-aid, and the federal system in Western Germany’, in W.E. Oates (ed.), The Political Economy of Fiscal Federalism (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington, 1977), 75–92.
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R. Rose, Getting by in three economies: The resources of the official, unofficial and domestic economies, Studies in Public Policy, no. 110 (Glasgow: University of Strathclyde, Centre for the Study of Public Policy, 1983), 13–14.
S. Edgell and V. Duke, ‘Public expenditure cuts in Britain and consumption sectoral cleavages’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, VIII, 2 (1984), 177–201
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G. Hockley and G. Harbour, ‘People’s choice: public spending, taxation and local rates’, Public Money, 1 (March 1982), 11–14
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D.E. Ashford, ‘A Victorian drama: The fiscal subordination of local government’, in D.E. Ashford (ed.), Financing Urban Government in the Welfare State (London: Croom Helm, 1980), 71.
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© 1985 K. Newton and T. J. Karran
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Newton, K., Karran, T.J. (1985). Knee-Capping Local Government. In: The Politics of Local Expenditure. Public Policy and Politics. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17849-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17849-0_8
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