The political parties at national level have failed local government. They have so weakened it that it has been saved from ineffectiveness only by the dedication of councillors and officers and by the support of citizens who have consistently shown in surveys that they have greater trust in local, rather than in central, government. ALL Governments, from their response or lack of response to the 1976 Layfield Committee's report, have refused to entertain any substantial reform of local government finance to restore local accountability for local government expenditure. Far from building up local accountability, they have undermined it. Their refusal to undertake a revaluation means that taxing local people with the council tax is based not on current or recent valuations, but on 1991 property values which have become increasingly unrealistic.
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