Pickles on the offensive against ‘propaganda sheets’

Eric Pickles is no longer a genial giant. His speech to the Conservative Spring Forum was the rallying cry that many Conservatives in local government, some of whom will be scrapping for survival in May’s elections, have waited to hear.
 
‘Ed Miliband,’ Pickles said, ‘is weaker than Neil Kinnock.’ The Labour leader could not take on his unions and militant councils, the Communities Secretaries said before turning an example:

‘Take Labour-run Camden. Ed Miliband’s local council. His councillors are cutting the Surma Community Centre, coincidentally visited by Samantha Cameron. Yet the council has spent twice as much on its town hall newspaper. His councillors are now cutting back tax relief for local voluntary groups. Heard of the People’s Supermarket – the social enterprise featured on Channel 4? Camden are hounding it the courts for £40,000 of rates. Camden has refused this local co-operative rate relief for non-profit groups. But the council does bankroll 8 union officials at taxpayers’ expense.’

An element at Tory HQ say they can hear the tear of Labour splitting between moderates and militants. They may be exaggerating, but, certainly, some councils have become much more malevolent and they have been using ratepayers’ money to fund partisan newspapers. Lambeth Council, for instance, spent £562,443 on Lambeth Life in 2009-10; the current issue of which has a photograph of a protestor wielding a ‘STOP THE CUTS’ sign on its front page.
 
Pickles has another problem, only partially addressed: Conservative councils are practiced publicists too. Last November, the DCLG persuaded Hammersmith and Fulham to fold its publicly funded paper, but several Tory-run councils, including West Sussex to Kensington and Chelsea, are still publishing at their residents’ expense. In heart-warming tones, the latest edition of The Royal Borough explains how frontline services will be enhanced by sharing providers and staff with neighbouring councils.
 
The double standard corrupts Pickles’ case, and it will be interesting to see if he corrects it.