Prime Manager — but What For?

Abstract

This book has outlined some of the important changes to the operation of local governance, especially since Margaret Thatcher’s prime ministership. Throughout my examination, a number of suggestions have been offered for coping with some of the problems (and opportunities) thrown up by fundamental change and I do not propose to repeat or enlarge on all of those suggestions in this final chapter. After outlining the way in which my research indicates Britain now works at the local level, I make some observations and suggestions on the most central problem for democracy; that is, the weakness of democratic accountability. Based on my study of the new local governance system, I propose that, far from a more pluralist political culture under Blair and New Labour, the government’s response to changes in local and regional governance suggests a more centralised process than under Margaret Thatcher. Unlike the oppositional years of the 1980s, and the moral and political uncertainty of the Major years, at the start of the new millennium the British people appear to embody widespread consensus for the public—private provision of services, endorsement of the Third Way’s inherent pragmatism and support for the need of government to deliver measurable improvements to its services. The fundamental characteristic of governance in Britain can best be characterised by a movement from a predominant concern with ideology and process towards a more output-driven politics.