Some Sense At Last

There is so much in this article that I agree with although I have to add that I would prefer it if we used proportional representation rather than the current 'first past the post' system.

It's interesting to see how much of Cameron's current thinking chimes with previous Conservative policies. During the Thatcher years there was a lot of pressure put on local Governments to toe the line and yet when she left office there was a change in direction.

Michael Heseltine's 2004 views on the subject of the redistribution of power weren't that too far removed from what Cameron is proposing, although contrary to what I believe Tarzan wasn't a great fan of regional assemblies, he saw them as vote winners rather than democratic virtues. He had this to say: "Political institutions are not keeping up with this commercial and cultural progress. Heseltine wants to see directly elected mayors, unitary authorities and 'a bonfire of controls from central government' rolled out across the country.

Despite being the minister who began regionalising the English civil service - with government offices of the regions and Regional Directors - Heseltine, the no-nonsense man of business, sees no need for a democratic voice. 'If I was running Lancashire, I wouldn't want to think that I've got to go to some North Western regional assembly with all the delays that would ensue.'

Heseltine was completely unapologetic about the impact of local authorities or rate capping, surcharging and basically giving the local authorities a hard time.

Heseltine was being interviewed by Tristram Hunt about Urban Regeneration for the Guardian in May 2004.

The reason I have chosen Michael Heseltine as a historical compliment to David Cameron is because the former was a businessman who understood how bureaucracy stifles drive and halts real democracy as we become entangled in a self serving web of 'doing what is right' rather than doing what is the right thing. Cameron has seen from the opposition benches how we have become a society corralled by rules and regulations that don't allow any common sense - whether this is because of a fear of litigation or the fear that people are too stupid to think for themselves.

The Conservative Government of 1979-83 took us to war so that a small rock in the South Atlantic could enjoy self-determination, the people of Ireland, Scotland and Wales have all been granted self-determination, we have lost hundreds of troops in Iraq so the people of that country could enjoy self-determination and yet we are still denied it at home. Whether it is the EU or Westminster we have become, as a people, increasingly isolated from those people in whom we place our trust and faith every five years. Local planning issues have been taken away from local policy makers, houses are built on flood plains and green field sites, not at the behest of local people, because Westminster decides it needs more homes.

The worm is turning, the European Elections will show how disgruntled the electorate have become and the best thing that could happen is that the major parties receive a bloody nose which says 'enough is enough.'