Pickles: Doing more with less

Communities secretary Eric Pickles outlines government plans for local government to the Today programme with of the announcement of the localism bill:

“The localism bill will herald a ground-breaking shift in power to councils and communities overturning decades of central government control and starting a new era of people power.

“It is the centrepiece of what this government is trying to do to fundamentally shake up the balance of power in this country. For too long, everything has been controlled from the centre – and look where it’s got us. Central government has kept local government on a tight leash, strangling the life out of councils in the belief that bureaucrats know best.

“By getting out of the way and letting councils and communities run their own affairs we can restore civic pride, democratic accountability and economic growth – and build a stronger, fairer Britain. It’s the end of the era of big government: laying the foundations for the big society.”