A PLAN to give people a greater say in how politicians are spending their money is being held up by the Government, Carlisle’s would-be Conservative MP John Stevenson says.

And one of those to blame is the city’s sitting Labour MP, Eric Martlew, who last month (October 28) voted against a motion calling for more openness on public spending.

John, the Carlisle solicitor who is Carlisle’s Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate, has long been a supporter of moves to allow people to see whether they are getting value for the money they pay in taxes.

He says it is the only way to rebuild the public’s trust and confidence in politics and politicians – both national and local.

He had high hopes that a new law called the Sustainable Communities Act would be the solution, with local authorities – including Carlisle City Council – being made to publish details of payments for goods and services.

But he says the Government has now “watered down” the new law, even though it was passed by Parliament with wide cross-community support from local and national organisations.

The plan was to enable local residents – not to mention local newspapers, radio and television stations – to create a new citizen-led financial discipline on local government by scrutinising details of council expenditure.

“We need to shine the light on public spending and help improve value for money,” John says. “The public should have a right to know how exactly their money is being spent. At a time when the public finances are so tight, every penny counts and more openness would impose a a greater financial discipline on local councils, Whitehall departments and Parliament.”

But John says Labour MPs are now dragging their feet over the new law – so much so that in Parliament on October 28 many of them, including Eric Martlew, actually voted against a move to speed it up.

“Local communities deserve a far greater say on how their money is spent but this Government just seems to want to stop local people finding out what a raw deal they are getting,” he says. “The Government should be telling us how much of our money is actually spent in our area but it won’t do that because it knows we would then find out that every household in Carlisle is having to pay almost £4,000 a year on its unelected quangocrats.”

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