Councils 'don't have enough power'

England still lacks a "healthy" balance of power between central and local government, a group of MPs has warned.

The Commons communities and local government committee has called on central government to take "radical steps" to tilt the balance of power toward localities.

Central government should maintain a "very high threshold" before it intervenes in local matters and "only as a last resort", the committee argued.

In return, the committee called on councils to become more "ambitious" in achieving autonomous local leadership.

"Wholesale cultural change" is needed across central government, with closer parliamentary scrutiny of national ministries, said the committee's report.

And there must be reform of local authority finance to help improve communities and local governance, the report added.

The committee recommended that local authorities should be able to raise more of their own money.

As part of this, "serious consideration" should be given to a supplementary local income tax alongside existing council tax.

But there should be a reduction in central taxation to balance out the cost to the taxpayer.

The Home Office and the Department of Health should work with the Department for Communities and Local Government to establish a local authority commissioning model on local policing and healthcare, the report said.

Local policing and healthcare services are currently "insufficiently accountable" to their local populations, the MPs warned.

And pilots should be launched to encourage joint commissioning between local and national government in these areas, the report said.

Committee chairman Dr Phyllis Starkey said the UK is "still a long way from an equitable and healthy balance of power between central and local government".

"Central government must take radical steps to tilt the balance of power towards localities, and local government must become more ambitious," she added.

"Much must be done to counter the post-war tendency of governments of all parties to expand their powers at the expense of local government.

"Whilst we fully accept that the government should set strong national strategic goals, it should also pay much greater heed to the benefits of local autonomy."

Starkey continued: "Local authorities clearly know their communities better than Whitehall does, particularly for instance when it comes to local health inequalities, policing needs or tackling the local impact of the economic recession.

"Our famously unwritten constitution depends upon strong popular participation at a local level. This won't improve unless local people believe that their local government can make a real difference."