Doughnuts and free draw tickets

Hazel Blears, upset by the apathy among British voters, plans to entice them and coerce them into being more politically active. It is mostly bribery.

She identifies a problem, - voter apathy, but seems completely ignorant of the cause. Why do people refuse to walk to polling stations, or even to apply for and fill in a postal voting form?

She does not seem to see that the problem is all about pointlessness. Their vote is for Westminster politicians who have much less power than they used to have, and who will ignore them or deceive them by spinning and do secret deals with big business and trade unions, and for MEPs who have little power over the many policies and laws made by faceless bureaucrats in Brussels who are quite beyond votes.

If a person's life and situation could be influenced by the casting votes, there would be every incentive to vote, with a real prospect of influencing what happens.

Voting at local elections is very low in part because many so-called local decisions are in fact made in London, and local councillors are the fall guys to carry the can for Government policies. Even in local government there is a cabinet system which restricts what power they have to a few. This is continuning. Some areas are to have mayors imposed upon them without consultation, and it is to be made more difficult to hold referenda on issues such as this.

It is very well for Ms. Blears to impose on councils the requirement to answer petitions (in the way in which Whitehall does not), to have public meetings and the like, and to pretend to "consult the public", when the real power is at London or Brussels.

Ms. Blears, if you really want an active and vibrant local democracy, transfer powers back from London, de-merge police and ambulance services and give councils power to raise their own finances. This will make local democracy meaningful, and we shall all be dashing down to the polling station to cast our vote for councillors, mayors, police chiefs and health chiefs, and expect them to consult us in a real way rather than telling us what has already been decided.

You cannot have a society increasingly controlled by London and Brussels, and theerfore centralised, and expect people to become enthusiastic about politics. Political activists and councillors are to be admired for taking on many duties with little effective power. Police, Fire and Health services are unresponsive because of remoteness and ought to be made accountable to local people.

Ms.Blears has identified a problem but does not seem to understand its basic nature.