Mansion taxes, curbs on landlords and a package of measures to woo the student vote are not the sort of policies you would typically expect to hear floated by Conservative politicians. But these are not typical political times.
On and off stage at this week’s Conservative party conference in Manchester, you could see the unthinkable in pursuit of the unimaginable: a non-traditional agenda designed to counter rising support for a left-lurching Labour party.
“There’s a shift in public opinion,” London School of Economics professor Tony Travers told a Mishcon de Reya/London Communications Agency gathering of investors and politicians on Sunday night at the conference. “It’s a shift you need to adapt to.”
For some at Sunday night’s dinner, the party’s current policy priorities were misplaced. For most present, however, they were not nearly radical enough. Nothing less than full commitment to devolution, wholesale reform of the local government financing system and a fundamental rebalancing of power between London and other core cities would be enough.
Westminster city council leader Nickie Aiken’s bid to impose a doubling of council tax for wealthy residents was an eye-catching start to the week. The council is keen to present this as not-a-mansion-tax – “it’s a voluntary community contribution,” she corrected. It would see owners of properties valued at more than £10m elect to pay a £1,300 levy on top of their £1,300 top-band council tax.
It’s a pretty radical idea, though it’s more symbolic given the comparatively paltry sums it stands to raise. Voluntary today, it could yet become compulsory. And it is drafted in the full knowledge that the government cannot afford primary legislation time as it focuses on the great EU repeal bill.
But if Aiken acknowledges that government support will be thin on the ground for the next 18 months at least, collaboration between cities and with the private sector remains perhaps the only viable way forward.
Urban Splash founder Tom Bloxham recognised as much. “Greater Manchester has to collaborate because the economy has been pretty tough,” he said. With ministers apparently wavering in their commitment for even the devolution they had promised, Greater Manchester Combined Authority chief executive Eamonn Boylan warned that his and other regions might have to continue to find their own solutions.
“The problem for us is that the default position of government is to see the political landscape defined by the political issues of London,” he said.
Peter Rogers, chairman of the New West End Company, shared Boylan’s frustration. “What they have devolved are duties,” he said. “They have not devolved tax-raising powers. Devolution is merely a word in central government. The civil service is frightened of losing powers. What we need is a fundamental reform of local fiscal powers.”
For some, the fiscal reform being pursued is wrong. Former Conservative minister Steve Norris labelled Help to Buy, which drew a further £10bn in support this week, as “absolute economic madness”. Pocket Living Nick Cuff said the current system of local government finance – “an amalgamation of CIL and s106 that pays for everything” – needed to be overhauled and replaced with a simpler tax.
For Wandsworth leader Ravi Govindia the current system was one that left everyone thinking, “it’s a stitch-up”.
So in the absence of fundamental reform, it is collaboration or nothing. And at least a note of optimism on that was sounded by James Cooksey, The Crown Estate’s director of central London.
“From an industry perspective, collaboration has got a lot more honest over the past 12 to 24 months. And in the dark halls of the development world, most would say it’s a fair cop. We’ve got to make a better contribution.”
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