WILFRED PICKLES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Wilfred Pickles was good entertainment in the 1960s, and his offspring Eric is a bit of a clown too, particularly when it comes to organizing local government.

It would appear that cash-strapped councils are going to have to make draconian cuts in basic services such as libraries and help for the elderly and disabled. Mr. Pickles is adamant that these cuts should be followed through, and David Cameron, despite his pre-election posturing, has, up until today, been able to claim that opposition to the government's austerity package comes from Labour, who mismanaged everything and are therefore responsible for the necessity of cuts.

But I did say "up until today". Because today, LibDem councillors, many of whom are in local government dependent upon Conservative support, have fairly upset the apple-cart so far as the coalition is concerned. Pickles' attitude has been so strident that he has got their backs up. And they have decided to let him have it - admittedly in The Times, part of the Tory poodle Murdoch's empire, but nonetheless putting their parliamentary colleagues in a somewhat embarrasing position. Because local government is the basis of democracy in this country, as has been shown by Clay Cross and other councils who have had to fight the Tories. And then there's the prospect of industrial action on the part of public service workers whose jobs are endangered by the threats coming from Cameron and Osborne. Pickles may hum and haw as much as he likes about the responsibility of councils to their electorate, but in a democracy when public services are being axed to suit the fat cats of Threadneedle Street and Whitehall, they have to be listened to.

Even by Eric Pickles MP.