Question: The election theme is "local Conservatives, local issues, local action" but isn't there a danger that it will be overshadowed by the international issue of Iraq?

Eric Pickles: Yes there is always a danger of that. People vote for all kinds of reasons. But there has been an element in the last two sets of local elections of discernment. If there is a good local issue and if people connect with their local community, slightly more people go out and vote. But if there's war then things do change.

But I bet you beyond the metropolitan areas in the districts that unless there's something particular about the war I expect it's very much more going to revolve around the "parish pump" issues rather than oil pumps in the Middle East.

Question: The issue of turnout always comes up. What will the party be doing to counter that?

Eric Pickles: I think this is a long-term problem. I especially think that the political system's been rumbled because of the argument that low turnout is about apathy. People have actually understood that it's about someone in Whitehall who by the slip of a pen can move tens of millions of pounds around. And that someone who wants to raise £1000 of council tax has to raise £4000 in order to generate it.

People have generally understood where the power lies. I think whether we look at electronic voting, voting by text or just turning up and putting a cross in a box, it's not the method of voting that we have to make relevant; we have to have an opportunity to express choice.

That's what's killing local government; it's now the creature of central government for pay, rations and policy.

Question: Don't the Conservatives have at least a part of the responsibility for that?

Eric Pickles: Completely without question, you are absolutely right and we were absolutely wrong. But if we started this journey there cannot be any doubt that we have all now arrived at the terminus.

We've got to decide if we want to see a uniformity of provision of local authorities right across the land. If that's fine then what the government is doing is absolutely right and we should continue with that.

But if we think local authorities should provide services according to the needs of their local community and should be able to shift priorities about and should be able to provide more then we should be able to pull back from this.

Question: Is this the zeal of the converted?

Eric Pickles: There's nothing worse than the born-again. And we're born-again local.

Question: Local government minister Nick Raynsford accused Conservative councils like Wandsworth of putting up council taxes because they are not facing elections this year. What's your response?

Eric Pickles: I think Raynsford's living in a world of his own. He's the only person that believes this. I have the consistency of saying what I thought would happen and I was bang-on.

I talked about 16 per cent average rises and I'm pretty well right. I talked about people on band D paying £1000 for the first time and I was right. It's not because I'm some kind of mathematical genius because my nearest and dearest will tell you I'm not. It comes down to the simple fact that it was pretty obvious that from day one that once Labour made the announcement about changing the way the formula worked and they were taking money away from the counties and moving it to the inner cities, it was bound to happen.

Frankly the argument that this is not an election year is wrong. Come on Nick, stop wasting our time. You've gone for local government; you've gone for the Tory authorities and gone for them hard. They've got some of the highest increases and you've decided to do this for political reasons. Don't look surprised and don't be a hypocrite.

Question: But isn't there an argument that taking money from wealthy shires to help deprived inner cities like, say Burnley, is justified?

Eric Pickles: Redistribution should be about fairness. This isn't fair. This is just straightforward pork barrel politics. I think in many ways the consensus on the funding formula is broken. I don't believe in what the government is doing and I cannot support it.

Let's just do a simple exercise. I don't know the figures for Burnley but I looked at areas around Kent. There's a lot of poverty round there and I looked at the issue of sparsity and deprivation.

Look at somewhere like Camden where there is the same level of poverty but you don't have the same level of density. What happens in this system is that Kent's poor people don't count under the new process but the poor in Camden do. I don't think that's fair or right or reasonable.

I am now moving to a view that we should look hard at the way local government grant is distributed. I'm beginning to find a degree of attraction to the Australian system where politicians are kept out of it.

The system which is under Nick is so capable of being fiddled and you can't trust the politicians not to do that.

Question: Isn't Labour just doing what Margaret Thatcher did in the 1980s - giving favourable settlements to its own fiefdoms?

Eric Pickles: I think that was in the eye of the beholder. I used to represent the Labour heartland where the Independent Labour Party started in Bradford. Whatever happened to Wandsworth happened to us as well. I think it was more to do with good government.

I did think we needed to change and reprioritise but the thing that's so annoying is that Raynsford could have had some consensus. They sat on their hands for four and a half years before spending six months in blind panic to put it together.

Question: Ministers are again talking about capping - doesn't this ride roughshod over the principle of local democracy?

Eric Pickles: I think it coincides with the TV repeats of Only Fools and Horses; it's part of a wealth of nostalgia. The thing that's quite ironic about this is that there's at least 12 authorities that are caught in a 'double whammy'. It's almost a Kafka-esque quandary which is that you if you don't pass the money across for education the secretary of state for education gets you and if you do pass the money across and raise local taxation they get capped. What kind of a world is that?

Do you cap Wandsworth which still has one of the lowest council taxes in the country? Are you going to say to another council nearby that's setting a larger set of council taxes that Wandsworth's is not fair and yet they are not going to be capped?

Question: The election results are going to be used by commentators as a crucial test of Iain Duncan Smith's leadership. What can you class as a good result for the Conservatives?

Eric Pickles: Anything over 50 will be a triumph. We're expecting about 35 because we took some serious Labour seats the last time so to take more will be going on to a higher plateau.

The important thing is that the only people who will be taking it as an important test of Iain's leadership are columnists who don't know the first thing about local government elections.

Question: You mean it will be just the Westminster village?

Eric Pickles: It's the Westminster village, God bless them; it's a lot better than doing any real job.

Of course they'll be local factors, I think we'll see a lot of churning and things going in opposite directions.

Question: But people who read the newspapers and watch the TV will have seen the spat over Central Office staff. That won't have helped.

Eric Pickles: I'm pretty sure that which officials govern Central Office is not going to be that big an issue at the polls. I'm sure it won't. But the party does have to learn that unity is of great importance.

We're pretty close to Labour in the polls, our local economic competence is going pretty well but where we're scoring pretty badly is whether we're seen as a united party.

The simple truth is that the party needs to get behind its leader and to work hard.

Question: What happens the day after the May polls? Some commentators are predicting that the infighting will continue whatever the result.

Eric Pickles: It will be a great test of character for the parliamentary party the day after to look, see what's happened, learn the lessons and move on.

Question: So a bit of breathing space is what's needed?

Eric Pickles: I think so. The parliamentary party will be together at the weekend after for a gathering. We will be all together in one place.

Question: Public opinion still hasn't shifted on Iraq. Is there a danger that both Labour and the Conservatives are out of step?

Eric Pickles: They may well be but sometimes government has to lead and do the right thing. I think we could blink and things could move on but two or three years down the line it might lead to an even more bloody conflict.

It obviously depends on Saddam Hussein co-operating with the UN on decommissioning. If he does not then his weapons of mass destruction have to be destroyed because they cannot be left in the hands of such an unstable and ruthless man.

Question: What's your mailbag been like on the issue of Iraq?

Eric Pickles: It's been about 45:55 - more anti war than in favour - to put it in simple terms. And it has all been fairly reasonable.

Question: Do you think the public have made a well-informed decision on this?

Eric Pickles: People get their information at almost the same time as the rulers of the country. People are informed, do have an understanding of what's at risk. Who in their right mind wants war? It's not an easy thing to do but we live in a very unstable world.