I want to let you in on my dirty little secret. I am a Lib Dem but I also believe in Cameron's Big Society. There, I've said it, it's out in the open. I want to tell you why I think other Lib Dems should also support what the Coalition are trying to do in creating The Big Society.
I know from speaking to my friends in the Tory party that The Big Society wasn't a vote winner for them on the doorsteps of Scotland at the last election. Us Scots are rightfully distrustful of big ideas eminating from Conserservative Central Office (remember the Poll Tax). However what Cameron articulated in his speech today in Liverpool on The Big Society is Liberalism by another name. Anyone that agreed with the majority of The Orange Book politicians including Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, David Laws and Ed Davey should have no problems with The Big Society. I personally think of the Big Society or Liberal Society agenda as simply 'Power to the People'. At the same time I do understand why this agenda is a harder sell in Scotland.
THE WARM EMBRACE OF THE STATE
Frankly in Scotland we quite like the warm embrace of the state. If something goes wrong our first instinct is to look towards the state, politicians, Westminster, Holyrood, civil servants, the PM, the FM, the MP, the MSP, the councillor. In many cases we look for national solutions to local problems. In response successive Labour and Tory governments have centralised things that are better dealt with locally. I believe the reason why Scots in particular have gone along with this centralist state is because we cherish fairness and we believe that a centralist state is the best way to end inequality. Therefore politicans talk about postcode lotteries and having national targets.
LOCALISM
A key part of The Big Society is the recognition that we need greater localism and decentralisation. In order to get around worries of postcode lotteries a responsible form of localism is where there are national minimum standards, to protect against the unlikely situation of a local decision to dismantle a public service. Countries such as Sweden and Germany are decentralist, yet are more equal than Britain. Another critique of the centralist state is that it tends to experiment on the whole country at once. A decentralised system would allow great diversity while at the same time being more stable. We should also recognise that a Liberal society is one in which people should be free to make their own mistakes, however uncomfortable this is.
THE THREE STRANDS OF THE BIG SOCIETY
In Cameron's speech today he spoke of the three strands of The Big Society. The first is to create a greater culture of volunteerism. As well as being a good thing for communities and the country as a whole the act of volunteering teaches one important lesson; empathy. I prefer to think of volunteering in terms of citizenship. In Labour hands, citizenship meant identity cards and the nanny state. Hopefully in the Coalitions hands, it carries the flavour of democracy, civil society, voluntarism, self-help and self-government. Next we need a change in how government operates. It's not about doing more with less but rather about doing less with less. It also requires a different breed of local and national politician. Regardless of party many councillors and Parliamentarians are excellent, but too many are below average and actually hinder the development and flourishing of the communities they serve. The final strand of the Big Society is community empowerment. I remember John Swinney at the last Scottish election saying he wanted to empower community councils but then providing little in the way of resources or training to make this happen. In comparison the Coalition are creating a Big Society Bank, funded by money from dormant bank accounts, to pump prime community projects (this doesn't apply in Scotland). Cameron was right though in pointing out that money is only one aspect in empowering a community. Public funds needs to be leveraged with private finance and more importantly a change in culture where a greater number of people give their time and effort to improve the lives of others.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately The Big Society (yes I'm not that keen on the term either) is a thoroughly Liberal solution to creating a more dynamic, compassionate and free society where individuals, families and communities can flourish. It will be interesting to see whether the SNP government takes onboard changes in the rest of the UK but I fear that as a party they are centralist at heart. I would happily be proved wrong. In terms of my hope that we see the rise of volunteering, social enterprises and private enterprise in Scotland I would quote Vince Cable who said that "provided the state performs its central functions of ensuring that there is a regime for standard-setting and testing, and providing resources to pay for a quality service, there is no overriding reason why the state itself should provide the service."
I would be very interested to hear what everyone else thinks about The Big Society if you could leave comments below. Usual rules apply, be polite, do not be offensive or malicious, and do not post advertising messages.
