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Tories dismiss 'bribes' for local election votes
July 16 2008
COMMUNITIES could vote on what punishment is meted out to offenders in their neighbourhood and voters be entered into prize draws to convince them to go to the ballot box under new Government plans
Tories dismiss 'bribes' for local election votes
COMMUNITIES could vote on what punishment is meted out to offenders in their neighbourhood and voters be entered into prize draws to convince them to go to the ballot box under new Government plans.
People should be able to decide what community sentences - such as painting over graffiti or building allotments - yobs and criminals are given, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said as she announced proposals designed to reignite people's interest
in democracy.
"Eye-catching" proposals to allow councils to offer incentives such as running prize draws to entice people to vote in local government elections were dismissed as "bribes" by the Conservatives.
The Government was also accused of "missing a trick" by urging more cities to adopt elected mayors and making it easier for them to do so - but not giving them real powers, such as over transport.
Ms Blears announced a range of plans which also included forcing councils to respond to petitions collected by residents, making top council and health officers face the public, allowing schoolchildren to shadow Cabinet Ministers to inspire them and scrapping rules banning many town hall officials from running for office.
"What we do in our area is say what are the top five things that you would like criminals who are subject to community punishment to do," she told the Yorkshire Post. "Should they clean up the railway, should they build some allotments, should they paint those railings?
"If you get to vote on that and then you see them doing that you have a sense that you actually make a difference."
Leeds criminal lawyer Grahame Stowe welcomed the proposals, but warned: "If people suspect that their local authority is using community punishment as a way of cutting back its own expenditure on things like cleaning streets or maintaining public spaces, the entire process of community rehabilitation will be brought into disrepute."
The Conservatives' local government spokesman, Eric Pickles, said there was a "strong case" for more city mayors but claimed the current hurdles for communities to get one were too restrictive.