The Conservative Party and the Lib Dems speak about increasing the devolution of responsibilities to local authorities (LAs) or county authorities, but do they really mean it?
It's quite easy to propose an increase in the areas where LAs provide services, but if they don't also propose collecting a large proportion of the funds required for providing their services locally, councillors will tend to make decisions that win them votes on the basis of ignoring the industrial interests of an area. There are few votes given by Directors and Shareholders.
