Should the running of a council be party political?

[Guest]

Why must public administration be party political?

[Mecky]

That would mean the same people would always be in charge and responsible for their own actions. Also, ideas need to be freshened up occasionally

Edited March 15, 2015 by Mecky

[El Cid]

Why must public administration be party political?

 

Because controlling things from London would not work in far away places.

[LeMaquis]

Why must public administration be party political?

 

Public administration is actually a form of government. Government is essentially political. Hence local government is run by political parties.

[biotechpete]

Actually much of it doesn't need to be. It ought to be possible to follow evidence rather than idologically based policy in most cases.

 

There is also the issue that often a change in administration doesn't necessarily lead to a change in policy/activity because of the officers in certain places who have their own agendas.

[Lucy75]

Public administration is actually a form of government. Government is essentially political. Hence local government is run by political parties.

 

It is, but it doesn't have to be, it's possible to form a government without the need for political parties, unfortunately all attempts to set up a non-partisan democracy on a country wide scale have failed, non-partisan democracy tends to be limited to local government, but even then large political parties do their best to muscle in.

[LeMaquis]

It is, but it doesn't have to be, it's possible to form a government without the need for political parties, unfortunately all attempts to set up a non-partisan democracy on a country wide scale have failed, non-partisan democracy tends to be limited to local government, but even then large political parties do their best to muscle in.

 

Large political parties muscle in by standing for election and getting people to vote for them. Most local government funding comes from central government.

 

You're also missing the point that political decisions need to be made about how the money should be spent. Non-partisan organisations and independents still have political preferences. They don't do things objectively but subject to their own politics.

[Lucy75]

Large political parties muscle in by standing for election and getting people to vote for them. Most local government funding comes from central government.

 

You're also missing the point that political decisions need to be made about how the money should be spent. Non-partisan organisations and independents still have political preferences. They don't do things objectively but subject to their own politics.

 

I didn't miss the point but it appears that you did, the political decisions can be made without the need for political parties. A group of people acting independently of each other can make decisions and those decisions are likley to be more representative than a group of people following the party line.

[Localman]

You might want to ask yourself why

(1) Independent controlled councils were consistently rated the poorest in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness and strategic management by the Audit Commission. The next worst performers were No Overall Councils

(2) Until the recent interventions in Rotherham and Tower Hamlets which, arguably, are for other reasons, the only councils which had been so poor in performance that they required the intervention of the Secretary of State and the sending in of Commissioners were Anglesey (Wales) which was and is Independent-controlled and Doncaster with its English Democrat Mayor, who was generally rated the least competent council leader of the last decade.

 

With a collection of Independents you inevitably end up with lowest-common denominator agreements, an inability to take difficult decisions, and pork-barrel politics.

[LeMaquis]

I didn't miss the point but it appears that you did, the political decisions can be made without the need for political parties. A group of people acting independently of each other can make decisions and those decisions are likley to be more representative than a group of people following the party line.

 

The point you're missing is that voters know what the politics of political parties are. They don't know what the politics of independents are.

 

For example, the main opposition on Barnsley Council is the Barnsley Independent Group. One of their councillors was a secret BNP member. Her cover was only blown when the BNP membership list was leaked. BNP members should be elected as BNP candidates. They shouldn't hide as independents. That goes for all elected representatives.