Ben Bradshaw MP

The David and Goliath struggle between plucky Exeter and over-mighty Devon is entering, we hope, its end game.

Since the Government announced this week that it would grant Exeter’s wish to run its own council – restoring to our city the status it enjoyed for 800 years until 1974 – the misinformation pouring out from Devon County Council’s army of spin doctors has been unprecedented. 

Myth 1: “The change will mean a big increase in council tax”. In fact, council tax in Exeter is likely to go down. Single tier councils are more efficient and streamlined because you only need one set of officials. Council tax in unitary council elsewhere is lower than it currently is in Devon. There is no reason why it need go up in Devon either. See below.

Myth 2: “Devon will lose out if Exeter gets its own council”. In fact, those counties like Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire and many more in the Midlands and north whose main urban area has unitary status perform better than Devon as they can focus on their mainly rural and market town nature.  

Myth 3: “Exeter is too small to have its own council”. We managed perfectly well for 800 years before 1974. Virtually all England’s cities of Exeter’s size and importance have their own council and some of the best performing local authorities in the country are smaller than Exeter.

Myth 4: “This is all about Ben Bradshaw”. Why on earth would Exeter Conservatives and Liberal Democrats support the city’s case so strongly if that were the case? Restoring full status to Exeter has been the policy of all the city’s political parties since we lost it 36 years ago. This is about local democracy and local government, not parliamentary constituencies or boundaries. 

Myth 5: “The Minister ignored civil service advice to approve Exeter and Norwich’s bid.” Officials advise, Ministers decide – that is an essential tenet of democracy. It’s a shame that county councilors in Devon don’t stand up more often to their unelected officers. The public in Devon might get a better service if they did. The selective leaking of internal correspondence has confirmed the suspicions long held in Exeter (and Norwich) that London-based civil servants have consistently been biased against Exeter and Norwich and have been firmly in the county camp.    

Devon County Council’s myth watch will be updated on a regular basis. 

The more Tory policies are exposed and scrutinised, the quicker they unravel. Their major muddle now over the economy comes after climate change last week and marriage the week before. 

In my policy area they have just announced their 3rd u-turn in a year saying they would use part of the TV licence fee to pay for universal broadband. Originally they supported our proposals to save region news on ITV using a small fraction of the licence fee. Then David Cameron told Jeremy Hunt to ditch that policy and they opposed any use of the licence fee except for BBC programmes. At the same time they opposed our plans to fund next generation universal broadband through small levy on fixed phone lines as “unacceptable interference in the market”. They now seem to be recognising what we and everyone else have been saying for yonks – that the market won’t provide high quality broadband to about 30% of homes and businesses – particularly in rural areas. So, they have gone back to supporting some use of the licence fee – not for public service TV in the form of regional news – but for broadband. You couldn’t make it up! And this from a party that has had years to get their policy sorted out. If they are this incompetent in opposition when they have plenty of time to think and plan – just imagine what they’d be like in Government!! 

Britain’s Job Centres have plenty to celebrate on their 100th birthday today.  As the Financial Times (no other) reported on Saturday, Job Centre Plus has “come into its own” during the worst global downturn since the 1930s.  One of the reasons unemployment is 450,000 lower than people predicted and much lower than in the recessions of the 1980s and 90s is because of the brilliant job Job Centres and their staff have done at getting people back into work or training. 

This is in part thanks to the reorganisation undertaken by the Labour Government bringing the benefits and job seeking functions together under one roof, with benefits tied to looking for work but with active help offered. It is crazy that just as the success of this system is being recognised and copied around the world, the Conservatives are proposing breaking Job Centres up and handing the benefits system over to local government. 

The huge increase in young people from less well off backgrounds going to university shows Labour’s drive to extend opportunity is working. 

There’s been a 27 percent increase in students from disadvantaged areas going to university since 2005 alone. The long term trend of more girls than boys doing degrees has also started to narrow. 

Steve Smith, Exeter University Vice Chancellor and head of Universities UK described this as an “unalloyed success” and credited the extra investment in higher education and improved grant and bursary packages for less well off students. Increased investment and improved performance in the state school sector has also helped – giving more young people the confidence and necessary qualifications to get to university. Given the importance of education and, particularly, university education for social mobility, these results help Labour refute the charge that we haven’t worked hard to address inequality. 

The old adage “all politics is local” is coming back to haunt the Liberal Democrat leadership of Exeter City Council. Their plan to close the city’s best used public loos has provoked a storm of protest and a great campaign by the local paper, the Express and Echo. 

Lib Dems have made a hash of running Exeter since they took over from Labour 2 years ago. Until then Exeter was one of the best performing local authorities in the country. They have cut services and out up council tax, abandoned plans for a much needed new swimming pool, are making a mess of waste collection and, as is so often the case with Lib Dems, never seem to be able to agree among themselves. But it’s the “Battle of Exeterloos” – that could be the last straw. 

Three cheers for Mark Easton, the BBC’s Home Affairs Editor, for filleting the Tories’ claims about crime. Mark is a rarity among journalists today in that he cares about facts and accuracy.

He has subjected Conservative claims about crime rates used to support their “Broken Britain” campaign to proper scrutiny and has shown them to be fiddled.

While Cameron has claimed crime, including violent crime has gone up, it’s actually gone down, significantly, Mark points out.

It’s a shame there aren’t more journalists of Mark’s integrity and courage. Most appear to be afraid of upsetting the Tories by subjecting their claims and policies to proper scrutiny. Could that be that they are hoping for special treatment if the Tories win the election?

The Mirror’s James Lyons is another honorable exeption this collective cowardice.

He has built on Mark’s work today to show how the Tories have misled people on health, education and welfare figures too.