The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Decentralisation and the Labour Party

Decentralisation and the Labour Party
Decentralisation and the Labour Party
During the 1980s a number of Labour local authorities committed themselves to decentralising service delivery to neighbourhood bases and establishing new mechanisms of consumer control. Achievements in practice have been limited. This article examines the reasons behind the failure to push ahead aggressively with decentralisation. Public expenditure constraints and the resistance of established organisational interests are identified as important factors. It is further argued that on close examination the nature of Labour's support for decentralisation is, in some cases, conditional and pragmatic, and in others, it is riddled with contradictions and tensions. In short, Labour's failure reflects an under lying uncertainty about whether it wants a full-blooded decentralisation.
0261-0183
4-22
Beuret, Kristine
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9
Stoker, Gerry
ca87d03e-eefd-42c0-88f9-9c48d92a552a
Beuret, Kristine
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9
Stoker, Gerry
ca87d03e-eefd-42c0-88f9-9c48d92a552a

Beuret, Kristine and Stoker, Gerry (1986) Decentralisation and the Labour Party. Critical Social Policy, 6 (17), 4-22. (doi:10.1177/026101838600601701).

Record type: Article

Abstract

During the 1980s a number of Labour local authorities committed themselves to decentralising service delivery to neighbourhood bases and establishing new mechanisms of consumer control. Achievements in practice have been limited. This article examines the reasons behind the failure to push ahead aggressively with decentralisation. Public expenditure constraints and the resistance of established organisational interests are identified as important factors. It is further argued that on close examination the nature of Labour's support for decentralisation is, in some cases, conditional and pragmatic, and in others, it is riddled with contradictions and tensions. In short, Labour's failure reflects an under lying uncertainty about whether it wants a full-blooded decentralisation.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 1 October 1986

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 47325
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/47325
ISSN: 0261-0183
PURE UUID: dda87f53-0aab-49c8-8a4f-16fe27c9aacb
ORCID for Kristine Beuret: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8172-3395

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Dec 2007
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:51

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Kristine Beuret ORCID iD
Author: Gerry Stoker

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×