MSP wants bill to protect local government rights

A Green MSP is proposing to bring in a member's bill at Holyrood to strengthen local government against the excessive centralisation that he claims is impeding its ability to improve outcomes for citizens locally.

Andy Wightman, member for Lothian, is currently consulting on his proposed bill to incorporate the European Charter of Local Self-Government into law in Scotland.

The Charter is a Council of Europe treaty, ratified by the UK in 1998, which seeks to enshrine a series of legal rights for local government. Among other rights, its 10 substantive articles:

• recognise the principles of local self-government in domestic legislation and, where practicable, in the constitution;
• embed the rights and abilities of local authorities to regulate and manage a substantial share of public affairs under their own responsibility and in the interests of the local population;
• enable local authorities to determine their own internal administrative structures in order to adapt them to local needs and ensure effective management;
• ensure that any administrative supervision of local authorities is only exercised according to procedures and in such cases as are provided for by the constitution or by statute; and
• guarantee local authorities, within national economic policy, adequate financial resources of their own, which they may dispose of freely within the framework of their powers, and ensure that local authorities' financial resources are commensurate with their legal responsibilities.

Monitoring of observance of the Charter is by rapporteurs appointed by the Council of Europe's Congress of Local & Regional Authorities. In 2014, following a monitoring visit to the UK, it was reported that "the constitutional or legislative recognition and entrenchment of (the right to) local self-government does not exist in the United Kingdom (including in Scotland), and that the introduction of a general power for local authorities does not go far enough in satisfying the spirit of the Charter”.

Mr Wightman maintains that over the past century, the status, powers and freedoms of local government have been eroded and marginalised as Governments of all persuasions have "tended to assume that the answer to providing more effective public services is to exercise power and control from the centre".

He adds in his paper: "Over the 19 years since the Scottish Parliament was established, local democracy has been seen as the unfinished business of devolution. Whilst not all agree on the specifics, there is a growing political consensus that the challenges and opportunities facing communities across Scotland require more local solutions."

The cross-party Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy, which reported in 2014, recommended that all the articles of the Charter be incorporated into Scots law. It was established by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which claimed that: "Scotland is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. It is no coincidence that our European neighbours are often more successful at improving outcomes, and have much greater turn out at elections.

“We cannot hope to emulate the success of these countries without acknowledging that these councils and their services are constitutionally protected and their funding secured by law, even with regard to national policy making.”

Click here to access the consultation. The deadline for responses is 21 September 2018.