@cee-dee wrote:
We do not need ever more bureacracy. All these Mayors and Police Crime Commissioners are a complete waste of time and money when you evaluate what they actually do for their money.
It's easier than ever before to contact your representatives as they're all online so why do we need more "to make it easier" to contact them?.
Elected mayors, (there's only two in the UK), with real powers do a 'lot' for their money. The real problem is that they don't have sufficient tax raising powers. The vast majority of tax contributions, (income tax and VAT), from those living in their areas does not go into their coffers. They are still subject to central government 'interference' in regards to education, health, housing, social welfare etc.
Where they do have spending powers they have made a real difference, much of which can be objected to or praised according to your own individual standpoint. The point being though that they are answerable to a far smaller, (but still too big), an electorate than cities essentially administered by central government. Much better in my opinion if many of the powers held by a Mayor could be passed down to borough level and at the same time central powers held by the national government were passed down to the mayoral level.
Devolution can't be actioned on a revolutionary level but will have to evolve. The idea that an MP can represent 100,000 people in terms of health, education, welfare and many other needs is ludicrous. There are so many variations in the needs of their constituents they are pulled in all directions when it comes to voting for any nationally implemented measures that try to do all things for all men.
The needs of those in an area with a high concentration of elderly or unemployed or industrial workers etc. are totally different to those with young families, full employment or service industry workers but measures having a direct influence on the services of all those areas are actioned universally by central government.
Likewise with policing - Scotland has seen the introduction of a 'national' police force and there have been calls for a similar system in the rest of the UK. This would see the police and its upper heirarchy in the direct control of national politicians rather than being answerable, although admittedly pretty ineffectively at the moment, to the much smaller local police authorities. The exact opposite of devolution but something that would no doubt please the national government - another example of power being passed up, away from the people rather than downwards that would mean more local answerability.
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