Participatory budgeting

A concept that's gaining traction in local government, and is seen in a very similar vein to the development of the 3rd sector, is participatory budgeting. (Although that link is a distraction - they're not connected at all).

Basically this means the tax payer gets to decide how to spend some of the Council's cash. Hazel Blears has recently announced some more schemes and is hoping to have every area involved in the system by 2012.

The reason for doing this is to give people more power and involve them more in the process of spending money. It will make us more democratic.

Tosh.

We already have a way of getting members of the public decide how to spend the cash. Bascially, we all get to vote for the person that does it. They're called Councillors.

They get a few perks on the way....free parking at the Town Hall, the occassional luke-warm buffet at a training session, and lots of grief from the public and Vic Barlow. They are normal members of the public who have been nominated to make these decisions. It is open - anyone can give it a go, and you can get rid of people you think are doing a bad job by voting them out.

That is democratic. Having unelected, unaccountable people deciding how to spend my council tax is not. That's just corruption in the making.

Now you may argue that there is a disconnection between politicians and their constituents. This is the case in some wards (I hope it's not in mine, I'm certainly trying really hard to ensure it isn't). When this occurs that is the fault of the Councillor - but importantly it's the job of the public to fix it. By booting that person out next time around and getting someone better. And if there's no-one better on the ballot then you should have a go yourself.

Democracy can work and does work, and we don't need gimmicks like this to make us more "democratic" - we just need a bit more interaction between councillors and the public, a bit more discussion about politics in everyday life, and a bit more tough love for politicians when they're not doing what we want them to do.