The Big Society is what David Cameron calls the Conservative party initiative to roll back the centralised, rule-bound, controlling state and the associated culture of the disempowered individual, which has developed under Big Government Labour.
According to him, people deserve to be trusted so that wherever possible power and responsibility should be transferred back from the state to neighbourhoods and local social enterprises. Involving local charities and communities in the provision of public services and solving social problems is expected to be not only cheaper but also more effective than the current remote, top-down approach. Local people best placed to understand their own problems could, therefore, be given new powers to deal with their own issues such as the operation of shops, libraries and post offices, planning and housing development, new schools and local crime reduction. A new bank could fund innovative social enterprises whilst the government would train the many community organisers required to establish neighbourhood groups, galvanise communities and fund raise.
Experience from such social enterprises shows that people want responsibility and more control over their lives and also unfortunately that some groups fail due to incompetence and fraud. There again, mismanagement and waste also occurs when money is spent centrally making a new approach to transforming local, public services worth the risk.
However, when asked, in a survey last year by the TUC, whether responsibility for solving economic and social problems should lie mainly with government or with people, 62% of the important middle income segment (who are natural swing voters between small or big government) said government. Margaret Thatcher had a rapport with these voters for whom tax rises remain unpopular as well as handouts for those regarded as undeserving, but they also now gain more from the welfare state through child benefit and new tax credits.
As an example of Big Society, apparently some 300 groups of parents, teachers and others have joined the New Schools Network, set up to implement in the event of a Tory win on May 6th, the Conservative flagship policy for Swedish-style « free schools », independent of local authority control. Kunskapsskolan a private company which runs 32 schools in Sweden, is already opening five non-profit academies in England and could run 30 more free schools if allowed to be profitable. Such private operations would be via long-term management contracts and not include ownership or governing of such schools. Charities such as Ark and the Harris Federation already operate numbers of Labour » »s city academies and would be allowed to also include free schools as would the Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity which has shown interest.
Because David Cameron » »s Big Society idea looks like coming apart already because of government cuts, he » »s lining it up to get government funding. I mean, why make the cuts in the first place?
I agree that David Cameron has not made a very good job of « sellng » the idea of the Big Society to the British public, despite his having worked in the communications? promotions business before entering politics!