Doughnuts for votes

The Conservatives have criticised Hazel Blears' "Community Empowerment" White Paper for "ripping up laws designed to protect local taxpayer".

One element of the White Paper proposes "to provide incentives for voting in local government elections", such as by prize draws. The previous Chairman of the Councillors Commission, Dame Jane Roberts, suggested in a report that this could involve taking California's lead in offering free doughnuts and vouchers for chicken dinners in return for voting.

The White Paper also proposes that:

• Guidelines which prevent taxpayers’ money being spent on partisan propaganda by town halls should be torn up. A survey by the Taxpayer Alliance last December has already warned that publicity spending by town halls has soared to £450 million a year.
• Anti-corruption rules which restrict council officers from also being councillors should be weakened. Such rules were drawn up in the 1980s to stop local civil servants becoming politicised and conflicts of interest. The Labour Party is currently struggling to find candidates to run in local elections.
• Plans for remote voting. Councillors will not have to turn up at meetings, being able to vote and participate in meetings "remotely" instead, making it easier to hold down multiple jobs on top of the councillors' salary.

Eric Pickles said:

"These policies are the product of a bankrupt Labour Party, wanting to stuff more cash into the pockets of Labour councillors, bribe their voters, bring back jobs for the boys and slip in back-door state funding. Conservatives will fight these plans and stand up for the interests of the local taxpayer.

Councillors have a valued role to play in holding town halls to account. But rather than these highly partisan measures, if the Government was genuine about local democracy, it would hand back the powers that unelected regional assemblies and Whitehall quangos have seized from local communities."

Comments

[John Moss]

Only one thing will make people vote in local elections and that is a higher tax bill from your local Council.

We should be aiming for 50% of local expenditure being funded by local taxes, with a concomitant reduction in national taxation and increase in pensions/benefits.

Giving Councils a range of taxes and charges they can use would allow them to blend these to suit their local circumstances and drive a re-invigoration of the debate about what Councils should do and how much it should cost.

[Brian W]

Perhaps I am missing something but I thought that 'bribery' and 'treating' were offences under electoral law?

Voters have been put off local elections as they are perceived as a waste of time since local councillors are now little more than agents of central government and forced to implement their instructions irrespective of party.

Bring back true local democracy so that people believe that it is wortwhile voting since they can then make a difference.

[Norm Brainer]

Well blears looks like the joker and I think she's gotta be joking!

[Stewart Geddes]

The earlier posts were right. The only thing that will re invigorate elections at a local level is a strong link between the vote and their pocket.

Ironic isn't it. The Labour party introduce PPERA to try and scupper the Conservatives only to be hoist by their own petard.

[David Sergeant]

"These policies are the product of a bankrupt Labour Party, wanting to stuff more cash into the pockets of Labour councillors, bribe their voters, bring back jobs for the boys and slip in back-door state funding."

Absolutely. Surely I cannot be the only person horrified that a British government, a British government, is proposing this raft of legalised sleaze and corruption.

[Matt Wright]

The proposals by Blears today are disgraceful. The idea that we give people prize draws for voting is to utterly debase democracy. The notion of councillors not bothering to go to meetings utterly risable. Officers standing as councillors blatant Labour fixing. Truly astonishing. This signals what some of us have been suspecting which is that Labour is toying with a scorched earth policy in the face of the Conservative lead.

[Sam R]

Looking at the NuLab Front Bench at PMQs today reminded me of the witches' scene in the Scottish Play (though strangely enough none of the beauties was Scottish!).
Now, if Blears is so keen on local petitions why doesnt she extend her enthusiasm to the national level and run one on either this desperate bunch of windbags continuing to ruin this country or, better still, on whether or not the electorate want the Lisbon Treaty/Euroconstitution.
Incidentally, a council of my knowledge, or the more conscientious members of it, did try to insist that members be paid only when they attended meetings, but they were told by the officers that, laudable though that may be, guess who would not allow it? Yup, Central Government. Just appear once in every six months and the taxpayers' money will continue to arrive into your bank account.

[Patsy Sergeant]

This is just the sort of legislation that one would expect from a government that doesn't understand 'democracy' - the meaning of that is, and as it sees the votes slipping away from it, its natural reaction is to try and tie the noose tighter, in areas where it can.

Of course the other aspect of dwindling votes that this discredited government can't get its head around, is WHY it could possibly be happening to them! So many of the senior members of this government, are so full of their own rectitude, and smirky Blears is one of them, that they can't work out what has happened (they probably, quite seriously think that it is dastardly tricks by the 'Tory's' that is causing voters to wander!). Some of their own back-benchers could probably tell them!!

[Cleethorpes Rock]

How can they offer a bribe, sorry, prize to people for voting? Who chooses the prize?

The prizes will be chosen to appeal to a proportion of the electorate or demographic which backs the governing party (I can't imagine Hazel Blears going round Salford offering entry to a prize draw to win a load of ski accesories or a night at the Opera, nor Malcolm Rifkind going round Chelsea offering KFC vouchers to people in return for their votes). This is open to abuse and is in effect a way of Labour bribing their apathetic voters off their sofas, away from Jeremy Kyle and down to the polling station.

We will get to the stage where the winner of the election is determined by who can sell the most raffle tickets! Maybe Hazel thought of the idea while at Salford WMC during the meat raffle!

[Ali cat]

Re Doughnuts for votes. Did this country not get rid of bribes for voting about 200 years ago? Perhaps Hazel Blears doesn't read history, lets hope the chancellor doesn't either or the next thing might be 'tax for the number of windows in our homes'. Think that was about the same time as the voting corruption.

[Sally Roberts]

If the electorate are to be bribed with doughnuts then surely that will lead to an increase in obesity - something the Government says it is trying to fight!

[Chris]

John Moss,
Although that might worth in affluent areas what about those areas which are protected by the RSG floor? Poor areas will simply get into an even more despondent state, and any hopes of regeneration will be dashed.

[Thomas]

As a fully paid up member of the "None of the above" party, I will gladly accept a doughnut and chicken dinner in exchange for my vote.

[Robin Rowles]

Another gimcrack statement from a woman Labour MP. Patricia Hodge said the BBC Proms were too elitist. Harriet Harman wants to discriminate against [hard-working] white males. Now Hazel Blears proposes to invigorate local democracy by handing out chicken dinners & doughnuts. Are these women fit to be government ministers? Answers on a ballot paper please (chicken dinner and doughnuts not included)