Savings begin at home

There should not be too much surprise at the level of confusion within Lib Dem ranks about public spending cuts. After all, it is very unfamiliar territory for the party and the best that Kirsty Williams can do for the moment is to admit that Vince Cable has been "right on the economy and right on the banking crisis" without actually conceding the possibility that three rights might make a policy regarding St Athans.
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Punters and parties alike have yet to get used to this season’s fashionable frugality where proposals for a property tax or a bag tax or just cutting back on the cost of government all vie for media attention – although it is the last reference to top-heavy public bodies which caught our attention.

In Swansea, it is all too evident that a cull of cabinet posts is long overdue. In terms of energy, the collective output from the executive at any one time could hardly boil a small kettle and the only usual perceptible noise to be heard by casual visitors to the deserted cabinet wing in Calamity Hall is their own footsteps.

The council’s management team consists of a chief executive and five directors. There is no valid reason why the cabinet could not be trimmed down to the same number – saving nearly £100,000 a year in special responsibility payments into the bargain. It would be a straightforward move to scrap the Community Regeneration portfolio and merge it along with Housing into Regeneration since all affected staff already work in the same department. The same goes for Finance, HR and e-government which could be put under a single Resources heading whilst Leisure and Education could easily become the responsibility of a single cabinet member.

As Peter Black states – when referring to proposals to merge cabinet posts at Westminster – it is the kind of reform that will “resonate amongst voters and assist us in selling difficult decisions on public spending by demonstrating that politicians are prepared to take some of the pain as well.”

It is also an opportunity for Lib Dems to practice on the ground what they preach at the conference podium – and without any need whatsoever for prior Assembly permission for the savings to be put into effect.