IF WE measure democracy by how much control the average citizen has over society’s resources then democracy in Britain has been systematically eroded for at least a 100 years.  

The shifting of power from local government to the central state has been a big part of this process and the case for progressive federalism is stronger than ever.

There are historical examples where local government has asserted itself progressively against anti-working-class policies of the central state and actually carried out the wishes of its electors.

There was the Poplar struggle of the early 1920s when councillors paid the unemployed more generous rates of poor relief than that approved by central government; the refusal of some councils such as Liverpool and Durham in the 1980s to cave in to monetarist policies that were designed to pave the way for privatisation of services in the 1980s.

Then, even as recently as last June, a number of local authorities co-operated with school leaders and education workers’ unions to act in the interests of public health and ensure the wider opening of schools happened only when it was safe and not on June 1 as the government dangerously insisted at the time.  

At the same time central government has responded by penalising those who don’t tow the line and by eroding local democracy.  

After the Poplar struggle, responsibility for the unemployed was eventually transferred to the unelected central state’s Unemployment Assistance Board.  

The rebel councils in the 1980s would lead to the poll tax. It is also startling that at one time there were 1,246 councils in England, Scotland, and Wales each representing an average of 37,000 constituents. Now there are fewer than 400 councils, each representing an average of over 100,000 constituents. This democratic deficit is huge.

For a number of decades now local government has been forced to adopt a corporate management model that is suited to the needs of local capital and big business.  

This model has shifted effective power away from democratically elected councillors to teams of officials appointed by chief executives.  

The balance was shifted even further under New Labour which facilitated a dramatic increase in the number of appointed (unelected), faceless technocrats and quasi/non-governmental organisations (quangos) responsible for delivering services and developing the local political economy.  

It’s no wonder many working-class people complain they are unrepresented and have lost faith in politics. How can we start to address this democratic deficit?

In the most recent Sunday Telegraph, Gordon Brown made the case for a federal Britain. His case is that “the future of the Union” depends on giving more power to regions and nations who are disillusioned with “London-centric” government.

This is clearly being offered as a survival/damage-limitation strategy for British state-monopoly capitalism which Brown sees as threatened by the unfolding of Brexit and the Covid crisis.  

But there is a more progressive case for a federal Britain: one that can give nations and regions powers to raise revenue and increase democratic control through public ownership, state investment and public procurement.  

One that would address the democratic deficit in local government so the political economy can be developed by people who are democratically elected and accountable. One that gives trade unions a seat at the table.

Brown has been busy lately. He has also recently formed an “Alliance for Full Employment” with metro mayors in England, the mayor of Bristol, and the First Minister of Wales. Their objective is to “mobilise all the resources of the United Kingdom to end the recession and create good, quality jobs across our nations and regions.” 

This compliments national and regional developments in the trade union movement, with regional TUCs such as the North West and Scottish TUCs producing detailed post-Covid proposals that go further to address society’s needs as well as the long-term issues of democratic control raised here.  

Imagine if the mayors making these calls, spurred by the pressure of the trade union movement in their regions, actually had the powers to intervene in the national picture and put their money where their mouth is? Progressive, democratic regional assemblies would serve precisely this end. We could do with them right now.

We live in a class society. Our ruling class consists of powerful — mainly financial — monopolies and a state that has evolved in their interests nationally and locally over time. The result has been a colossal transfer of wealth and power away from the working-class and a bitter sense of abandonment throughout working-class communities.  

To restore “faith in politics” — in other words, for people to feel like they actually have some control over things — we need to develop strategies for realigning the state to working-class interests nationally and locally. Progressive federalism offers a way forward.