Stuff democracy, we are the rulers

That's the view of Local Government minister John Healey (smiling on the left), who says that local councils should charge more for basic services such as off-street parking.

"Only one in five councils are using charging to the full potential. Not just to cover costs but to shape their area."

Mr Healey said that charging more would result in "reducing congestion, improving levels of health and exercise, encouraging the use of local shops".

Never mind that local voters elect local authorities and this may not be what they voted for.

Comment from Eric Pickles and the Taxpayers' Alliance concentrates on the stealth tax aspect. For instance, the TPA say

"The last thing taxpayers need is even more stealth taxes and charges.

"It's outrageous that Government ministers are going round in public claiming to understand the financial pressures people are under, but behind closed doors they are urging councils to squeeze everyone for even more money.

"Councils already raise far too much by charging for things that used to be included in return for council tax."

Ministers seem increasingly to be regarding themselves as unaccountable masters. No one voted for the national government to do this, no one has voted for local authority measures like this, except perhaps for the voters of Richmond.

Eric Pickles' line is that

"It is shocking that Whitehall is pressing councils to use parking charges as a cash cow to raid the pockets of public. You would have thought the excessive rises over the past decade in council tax would be enough.

"Ministers are calling on councils to use to squeeze more money out of the public who are already struggling with the spiralling cost of living."

But yet again we see Conservatives not calling on their councils not to implement these interfering central Labour government policies.

They should. Tory councils weren't elected to introduce such policies. Rather local democracy than Duce Healey.