The communities secretary has promised councils more power but less money – and been prescriptive in setting out the Government’s reform of local government.

He tells The MJ his commitment to localism is deeper than gesture politics. Chris Smith reports

Modern politics is as much about symbolism as it is policies or personalities. With little cash in the coffers, this week’s annual Conservative Party conference was unlikely to be a hotbed of radical ideas. And the situation has clearly been complicated by internal negotiations necessary due to the cuts, and holding the coalition government together.

For communities secretary, Eric Pickles, his conference has been defined by what he could not say, rather than what he could. He has already negotiated his department’s budget settlement with the chancellor, George Osborne, but the critical issue of how much councils will have to save will only come in this month’s Comprehensive Spending Review announcement.

Mr Pickles has also already moved quickly with the controversial decision to abolish the Audit Commission.

The two key themes are localism and modernisation, with a vision of championing civic pride and social renewal.

His pledge to ‘redraw the balance of power within our constitution’ comes with a vision of pooled budgets across the public sector – social services, care, housing and health improvement, overseen by elected mayors in major cities.

His first keynote interview with The MJ takes place just ahead of the conference in his office at the CLG headquarters, which is likely to contain fewer people by the end of the year.

The conference speech includes the symbolic reference to Joseph Chamberlain, a Liberal Conservative politician who shaped municipal government and rose up the ranks to national government.

But on the way to creating the modern Birmingham, which hosted the Conservative conference, Mr Chamberlain was labelled by his Conservative critics as a ‘monopoliser and a dictator’.

Mr Pickles, the former leader of Bradford City Council, clearly sees him as an inspiration – although he has a different take on politics from him. He is also probably unaware that Mr Chamberlain is the great-great-uncle of Labour’s Harriet Harman.

Symbolism is important to the communities secretary. Strategically placed on a table in his office is René Burri’s black and white portrait of a brooding, cigar-smoking Che Guevara, to remind him ‘of the Commies’.

There are also busts of [former prime ministers] William Gladstone –the free trade Liberal Conservative – and Benjamin Disreali, along with a framed picture of Hollywood movie star, John Wayne, in the Western classic True Grit. A cabinet contains a miniature of a London taxi and a porcelain figure of former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Reduction in guidance and regulation have been welcome, although there is concern around how post-commission accountability will work.

But the core question remains that if Mr Pickles is a true believer in localism, why is so much being prescribed?

It’s an accusation swiftly rejected by the secretary of state. ‘I don’t see local government as a Vichy Government, answerable to the centre,’ he says.

He sees clear limits to what local government should do – with support for the general power of competence – but equally, his focus is on how much they can save.

Renewed support for city mayors comes with a hint that they may get powers to take on benefit payments. There is also fresh interest in the panacea of preventative working to tackle criminal gangs and persistent social issues.

The two ideas will be rolled out together, placing Mr Pickles firmly on the side of work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith.

Transparency on spending above £500 is top of the pre-conference announcements, and Mr Pickles wants to be clear about the motivations behind the initiative. ‘I don’t want this to be mean or parsimonious. I want this to be about opening up the books,’ he says. ‘The good ones have done it by now.’

The announcement is framed around the idea that local newspapers will be arbiters of spending. It also comes with a pledge to put a limit on council newspapers, but there is a warning to local editors not to fill their publications with lurid tales of council excess.

He says: ‘I never expect my newspapers to be fair. You can do that once, you can do that twice but after a while, it becomes tedious.’

His speech includes a shot at chief executives to take a pay cut of up to 10%, and he readily reveals that some of his thinking is based on the experience of changes made by his constituency’s council.

Brentwood BC was among the first to adopt the joint chief executive model, sharing Essex CC’s head Joanna Killian.

Mr Pickles says he is ‘profoundly uneasy’ about her salary’, but adds that she is a ‘very talented woman’. He says: ‘Paying £150,000 to £170,000 for a chief executive was ludicrous.’

He is still clear that council leaders can run their authorities. ‘The idea that small local authorities can have a chief a chief executive is over. Gone,’ he says. ‘Have a head of service, with £100,000 saved.

‘Super chief executives? No problem for local authorities where there is a commonality or economic area.’

Transparency should increase pressure on suppliers, and there is a clear feeling that contractors should be feeling the squeeze at local and Whitehall level. It’s a theme Mr Pickles warms to. He says: ‘Procurement is the last big undiscovered country for local government. We’ve been seen as a soft touch for too long.

‘The LGA has done a lot of fantastic work on this. And it’s something I’m keen to pursue. We just don’t have the expertise. We should be using our enormous buying power to get better deals.’

He adds: ‘We’re bigger than Tesco and Asda. We’re massive.’

His take on transparency also reveals a glimpse into just how he will deal with the problems that are going to surface as the cuts take hold.

‘I’m not going to criticise a council which tries… and it just gets it wrong. It’s better to try than just muddle through.’