Reader’s letter: Politics not working in communities

I couldn’t agree more with the letters of Mr Hall and Mr Miller in last week’s paper with regard to politics in local government.

I worked in Local Government in Liverpool for some 28 years in public transport and the educational sector, and at a time when local government really worked for its local community and was well funded to carry out the many functions it ran professionally for its residents across the board.

I transferred to the civil service in Nottinghamshire and, given that in all posts I had undertaken — which included research, administration and public information services — I was in a position to see how Central Government affected Local Government and its provision of services, which have deteriorated over time because of a lack of funding and too much unnecessary bureaucracy.

And it continues to do.

Parliament fails to address the wider concerns of the electorate, putting politics before the real needs of the nation.

It would appear there is a lack of research into each problem as it arises, the actual cause of the problem and then a lack of consultation with those who run the services that have problems, seek public views (after all MPs are there to represent our interests, not political ones) and then consider plans to deal with the real problem, and then actually budget properly for all of them.

Most readers will know of one or more schemes where budgets have overrun, such as HS2. Yet many countries are running high speed rail systems for some time, unlike this country.

When we voted one way or the other for Brexit the government of the day could not or didn’t want to provide the citizens of this country with the pros and cons before we voted on that matter and which as a result has led to the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Political parties seem more influenced by political considerations that do not reflect the views of local communities.

And chopping and changing policies as is done clearly is not in the national interest and manifestos become meaningless. It is surely the public who should set the real agenda in a true democracy.

In far too many ways parliament acts as if we were still in the Victorian era, not the 21st Century. — A. M. WADDINGTON, Sutton-on-Trent.