February 09, 2011

Local libraries are local

Libraries aren't as important as they used to be. Little point in traipsing to the reference library when you have the internet at your fingertips. Books are far cheaper than they were when the library movement was at its height. And now we have radio and television too.

But Oxfordshire's libraries are nothing to do with me.

Ed Miliband's line is that if a council decides to close a library, that's a poor reflection on central government. No. If a council's grant is going back to the level it was in 2007, has that library been opened in the last four years?

If not, why does the council prefer to keep a newer service going rather than the library?

Let's be clear, this is not a question for a government minister, or for The Commons. It's a local council, and this is a local choice for local voters. What choices do local voters want their local council to make?

This is what localism means.

But doubtless Labour will be back next week deploring another spending cut without proposing any of their own.

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