"If you WANT public services, hospitals, roads, a decent police force, libraries, schools, and so on and on, you have to PAY for them...."
Indeed you do. Unfortunately a large number of people who take advantage of those services pay nothing and a large number of people who never use them fund the lot. I’ve no particular problem with that – there’s lots of services I pay for which fortunately I am not in need of, but I may be one day (for which, no doubt because I am “rich”, I will have to pay again for). However, there are many issues surrounding LA funding which go beyond that. But more than that, what you should NOT have to pay for are jollies for councillors and officers (£50k spent on air fares in three years including 51 European trips and 13 outside Europe including a few to Montego Bay), courses instructing people how to tie up their scarves and £7.1m granted to a failing Heritage Farm project (to name but a few of very many).
Local authority waste, mismanagement and inefficiency is rife in this country. I won’t add to 3Ts excellent summary only to say I wholeheartedly agree with his belief that all LAs (at every level, from Parish Councils to the GLA) should be abolished. The Northamptonshire example is just one of many across the country.
It’s a shame that some have sought to blame a Prime Minister who left office 27 years ago. Since then there has been 13 years of Labour government and five years of Coalition. Neither of those two administrations sought to reverse TGL’s ideas and as has been said, simply screwing more cash out of those who pay is not the answer.
It’s an even greater shame the debacle has been linked to Brexit. Zacs unfortunately does not understand (and probably never will) that it is not what individual elected UK governments do or do not do that is the issue. It’s the fact that our continued EU membership will see them able to do less and less. He obviously relishes that thought; many do not. It’s great that he trusts a bunch of unelected foreign civil servants (with an unabashed Federalist agenda) more than he does an elected UK government (under review by the electorate at least every five years). Fortunately the majority of those who bothered to vote in the referendum thought otherwise.