37 views
Clean Politics > Published by Will Straw, February 14th 2011 at 9:09 am

Five reasons why you can’t trust Cameron with the Big Society

Print Friendly

The Prime Minister will attempt to relaunch his “mission in politics” today by setting out details of how a £200m bank will fund voluntary projects. Getting more people to volunteer is a laudable aim, but there are five reasons why you can’t trust David Cameron with the Big Society.

1. The voluntary sector is losing billions in Government support

David Robinson, founder of Community Links and a “key supporter” of the Big Society, called on the government to impose a six-month moratorium on local authority cuts to third-sector programmes, and to pump hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash into the big society bank to ensure vital charities and community groups survive beyond the next few months.

Dame Suzi Leather, chairman of the Charity Commission, has warned that cuts of up to £5 billion from key charities could “pull the rug” out from under Mr Cameron’s dream. A number of third sector groups have put together the Cuts Watch website to document and map the impact of cuts on third sector organisations. For example, the Citizens Advice Bureau is being cut by 45 per cent.

Sir Stephen Bubb, who heads the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, said charities and social enterprises were already having to make redundancies and scale back their work. He told Sky News:

“You can hardly build a bigger society if the very people at the heart of that vision are cutting back on the work they do.”

Indeed, NAVCA, the national voice of local support and development organisations in England, has estimated that 26,000 charity staff will lose their jobs in 2011.

2. The number of volunteers and people in the voluntary sector is going down

As documented on Don Paskini’s blog, from 2000 to 2004, the number of people working in the voluntary sector rose steadily by 200,000. But in the first few months of Big Society between July and September 2010 it fell by 13,000. Analysis of the Labour Force Survey by three voluntary sector organisations reported by Third Sector showed that the sector employed 793,000 people during the third quarter of 2010, down from 806,000 in the previous three months.

3. People don’t appear to have enough time

David Cameron’s Big Society czar, Lord Wei, has returned to working his “agreed hours” after doing overtime in his role encouraging more community volunteering. According to the BBC, the former management consultant is reported as saying he wants to earn money and have “more of a life”.

And as the Wall Street Journal’s Iain Martin has written:

“the millions of [Cameron's] fellow Britons who work long hours for not much money and come home to little more than a pile of ironing are already pretty busy”

4. Cutting public spending tends to reduce volunteering

As Johann Hari wrote in Friday’s Independent:

“The sociologist Amitai Etzioni conducted a major international study of volunteerism. He found that volunteering is highest where state funding is highest, and lowest where state funding is lowest. So high-tax Massachusetts has the most volunteers in the US, while low-tax Mississippi has the fewest. High-tax Sweden has the most volunteers in Europe, while low-tax Eastern Europe has the lowest. Far from “crowding out” volunteers, a big state attracts them, and a small state drives them away.”

5. The Big Society bank gives Cameron’s City chums a profit-making opportunity

The Civil Society publication reported last week that banks will earn a profit on the £200m pledged to the Big Society Bank by the UK’s high street banks as part of Project Merlin. The Project Merlin agreement outlined that lending would be on a “commercial basis“. Condemning the move, Geoff Mulgan, chief executive of the Young Foundation, told today’s Financial Times:

“If the Big Society Bank operates like a commercial bank providing money on essentially commercial terms to a series of retailers, then most of the money will go unspent.

“The reason is that there simply aren’t that many social ventures ready and able to take commercial money.”

As Bagehot’s notebook from The Economist put it:

“the public is mistrustful of any vision for Britain that blends altruism with the profit motive. And that is a big problem for the Big Society, which just does not add up if it does not include a dose of private enterprise.”

The final explanatory word goes to Peter McKay in today’s Mail:

“the true Tory character was revealed at its Black and White Party last week, in which five ‘internships’ at City banks were auctioned to wealthy Conservative-supporting parents for their children, with the £14,000 raised going to Tory funds.”

Hardly surprising when you remember that the City is in Cameron’s blood.

  • http://twitter.com/timthesocialist/status/37076053528682498 Tim Bedwell

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/slintottuk/status/37076317526556672 Stephen Lintott

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/coopparty/status/37076320630341632 Co-operative Party

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/twuncut/status/37076472963268609 twuncut

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/chrisplol/status/37076491380457472 Chris Paul

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/scott1984_fp/status/37076649627353088 Scott A J Reynolds

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/klousummerside/status/37076919262380032 Kate Summerside

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/coolchiccy/status/37077799722291200 Amanda Hodgson

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • scandalousbill

    The large divergence between the billions of funding cuts charities and local organizations face and the BS Bank as designed will in itself open this policy to great scepticism. The overall spirit of Big Society now is to view the disadvantaged in society as a source of revenue. How noble of the Tory led coalition.

  • http://twitter.com/jamesmills1984/status/37079733367734272 James Mills

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/mikelesurf/status/37080246889091072 Mike Le-Surf

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/graeme__smith/status/37080897798799360 Graeme Smith

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/footballreport/status/37081050911866880 FOOTBALL REPORT

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/psbook/status/37081370417168384 Political Scrapbook

    Will Straw (@wdjstraw) explains why Cameron's "Big Society" idea is on the rocks http://bit.ly/ibG8Ok

  • http://twitter.com/chrisplol/status/37081580480495616 Chris Paul

    RT @psbook: Will Straw (@wdjstraw) explains why Cameron's "Big Society" idea is on the rocks http://bit.ly/ibG8Ok

  • http://twitter.com/janedaisypain/status/37082526363160576 Jane Phillips

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • Mike Thomas

    And 13 years of Big Government made social mobility and life choices of the poorest 20% of society so much better didn’t it? It made massive in-roads in reducing drug-dependence and reversing alcohol abuse too I suppose?

  • http://twitter.com/cllrbpiper/status/37083675183026178 Bob Piper

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • http://twitter.com/brownhillsbob/status/37083882553749504 Brownhills Bob

    RT @cllrbpiper: RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • http://twitter.com/falseecon/status/37085283551805441 False Economy

    Good summary RT @leftfootfwd 5 reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the #bigsociety http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/airthc/status/37085384760360960 TowerHamletsCollege

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/thewarmjets/status/37085627732205568 Alex

    RT @FalseEcon: Good summary RT @leftfootfwd 5 reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the #bigsociety http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/xillyilly/status/37086591616815105 John Illingworth

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • http://twitter.com/shropsfightback/status/37087075014541312 ShropsFightsBack

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/othertpa/status/37087221831962624 Other TaxPayers Alli

    RT @falseecon: Good summary RT @leftfootfwd 5 reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the #bigsociety http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • scandalousbill

    Mike Thomas,

    You say:

    “And 13 years of Big Government made social mobility and life choices of the poorest 20% of society so much better didn’t it? It made massive in-roads in reducing drug-dependence and reversing alcohol abuse too I suppose?”

    The absurdity of your statement is beyond belief. So if we maintained the previous Tory regimes or shrink the size of government the gates to heaven will open wide just like that? In truth no UK government has effectively addressed social mobility. This administration is no exception.

    While I am not a fan of the Blair/Brown policies, there were a number of initiatives introduced that did have positive impacts. These are in jeopardy or face elimination under the Tory led coalition.

  • http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/37088255463800832 Shamik Das

    RT @psbook: Will Straw – @wdjstraw – explains why Cameron's "Big Society" idea is on the rocks http://bit.ly/ibG8Ok on @leftfootfwd

  • http://twitter.com/nancy_m_kelley/status/37088635782172672 Nancy Kelley

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/libbyhirst/status/37091721577762816 libbyhirst

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • Steve

    Ask Cameron to come over to Labour. It is in Labour that society exists not in the Tory world.

  • http://bit.ly/eLwJ9p Tacitus

    I suppose Cameron thinks all those being made redundant and unable to find work will be the new ‘army’ to support his Big Society.

  • http://twitter.com/thewalsalltwit/status/37093791336767488 Stuart Williams

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O <Tories put the BS into Big Society…

  • http://twitter.com/jos21/status/37096346381062144 Jos Bell

    RT @shamikdas: RT @psbook: Will Straw – @wdjstraw – explains why Cameron's "Big Society" idea is on the rocks http://bit.ly/ibG8Ok on @l …

  • http://twitter.com/liz_ids/status/37099325880418304 Liz A

    5 reasons you can't trust Cameron with Big Society http://bit.ly/edVMfz via @leftfootfwd

  • http://twitter.com/dunablue/status/37099984339861504 Allan Siegel

    Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society | Left Foot Forward http://t.co/onHcd3r

  • http://twitter.com/flc_campaign/status/37100665629057024 flc campaign

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • http://twitter.com/spsot/status/37101286507823104 Spir.Sotiropoulou

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • http://twitter.com/haltosaur/status/37103212066512896 Wayne Halton

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • Mike Thomas

    @scandalousbill.

    Really? Care to name said initiatives?

    What did Alan Milburn say about Labour’s social mobility engineering attempts?

    I’ll leave you with Blair’s words in 1996.

    “I believe in greater equality. If the next Labour government has not raised the living standards of the poorest by the end of its time in office it will have failed.”

  • http://twitter.com/c_a_jonestechno/status/37104394113781760 CAROLE JONES

    Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://lnk.ms/KcWrg

  • http://twitter.com/unisontweets/status/37105031131955200 UNISON – the union

    RT @Falseecon Good summary RT @leftfootfwd 5 reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the #bigsociety http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/june4th/status/37119445688127488 Noxi

    RT @psbook: Will Straw (@wdjstraw) explains why Cameron's "Big Society" idea is on the rocks http://bit.ly/ibG8Ok

  • http://twitter.com/john_the_monkey/status/37122510851936256 John_the_Monkey

    RT @psbook: Will Straw (@wdjstraw) explains why Cameron's "Big Society" idea is on the rocks http://bit.ly/ibG8Ok

  • http://twitter.com/blanchardspov/status/37127503772389376 Simon Blanchard

    RT @FalseEcon: Good summary RT @leftfootfwd 5 reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the #bigsociety http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/laraoyedele/status/37136482233749504 Lara Oyedele

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://twitter.com/annegreenwood2/status/37139289573695488 Anne Greenwood

    RT @liz_ids: 5 reasons you can't trust Cameron with Big Society http://bit.ly/edVMfz via @leftfootfwd

  • http://twitter.com/chuzzlit/status/37142605959671808 Alison Charlton

    Really excellent demolition job RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • http://twitter.com/chuzzlit/status/37143211222900736 Alison Charlton

    @oflynnexpress @Art_Li Well worth reading: @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O

  • http://twitter.com/tamsinchan/status/37143629143212032 Tamsin Dunedain

    RT @leftfootfwd Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O ht @chuzzlit #bigsociety

  • http://twitter.com/evadestruktion/status/37144520218902528 eva destruktion

    RT @tamsinchan: RT @leftfootfwd Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O ht @chuzzlit #bigsociety

  • scandalousbill

    Mike Thomas,

    Are you referring to Milburn’s statement?

    “The truth is if you’re going to solve crime, or regenerate a community, or improve somebody’s health, that is as much down to the individual as it is down to the state.”

    I think few would disagree. But it does seem to indicate a partnership between the state and individuals, not massive funding cuts and profiteering from the situation of the disadvantaged.

    With regard to social mobility initiatives, try reading for a change.

  • http://twitter.com/mhhaslam/status/37160459916279808 Michael Haslam

    RT @FalseEcon: Good summary RT @leftfootfwd 5 reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the #bigsociety http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • http://www.stephenwigmore.blogspot.com Stephen W

    1. Of course dramatic spending cuts are going to include grants to 3rd sector organisations. This is a problem for the Big Society initiative but not a fatal one. It is about making structural change. Funds will eventually go back up when there are funds to hand out. We have a £155 billion deficit if you hadn’t noticed.

    That said, many of these bodies are little more than Quangos by another name and do little to no essential work that Society could not do without. The Fawcett society leaps to mind. To quote Ben Brogan many of these people criticising the cuts representing the voluntary and charitable sectors “are neither volunteers nor charitable – they are paid and their money comes not from individuals but the state”. Charities that get most of their money from government are charities in name only. They are part of Big Government as much as the Big Society.

    2&3. Wow, you mean in a boom the number of people volunteering rose, and now in a recession and difficult recovery the number is falling ever so slightly. What a big surprise. How are these reasons not to trust Cameron with the Big Society? Are you suggesting he is responsible for the recession or what?

    4. Wow, I didn’t realise correlation necessarily implies causation. Thanks.

    Is it possible there are other factors involved as well? Like say, Massachusetts and Sweden are considerably richer than Mississipi and Eastern Europe? (Like by a factor of 2)

    5. Dear God No, someone is making a profit! Surely not! I am entirely outraged. How dare banks make a profit, I much preferred it when they were making massive lossses and the Labour party was throwing billions of pounds of our money at them to bail them out. That was a far more socially equitible arrangement.

    The truth is, even on commercial terms the £200 million will almost double all current funding available for social enterprises in this country. In addition to the other resources of the Big Society Bank it will more than double investment funding for social enterprises in this country.

    Mr Cameron is doing what he can in financially difficult times. Unless you’re suggesting there should be no spending cuts then criticising necessary reductions in grants to the 3rd sector is hypocritical and ridiculous. If you want to know why they are difficult I suggest you ask the Labour Party who let us get in this mess.

  • http://twitter.com/postpolionews/status/37177031800135680 Chris Salter

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O #ppnuk

  • http://twitter.com/brib49/status/37179370149773313 Brian Barefield

    RT @postpolionews: RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/fOIG7O #ppnuk

  • Matt

    @Stephen W

    1. Those CVOs that are receiving money, through grants or contracts, with public authorities are delivering public services. Isn’t that exactly what Cameron’s looking to increase? Only on the cheap, of course. And it might suit your argument to think that they are Quangos by another name but at the TUC/NAVCA event last week, there was a litany of essential local services that are facing the chop. That was just a flippant assertion with no basis in evidence of what’s actually going on out there. http://www.voluntarysectorcuts.org.uk is a good place to start.

    2 and 3. No, I guess the suggestion is that Cameron’s expectations of the capacity of volunteers is hopelessly out of touch with the reality on the ground.

    4. I’m less sure of Hari’s point about a relationship between an active state and volunteers. I haven’t seen the evidence in great detail. Volunteers do require recruitment, training and capacity building. Much of this work is done by the state. Most of which is now out of the window. There is certainly a correlation between wealth and education and volunteering though. The Third Sector Research Centre have done good analysis of this. This does beg the question about volunteer capacity in areas of deprivation that will most need it.

    5. The point about commercial lending is that it has failed the sector up to now. Aside from the queasiness most of us feel about bailed out banks making a profit off funding to the voluntary sector that used to come from public purse, the fact is that CVOs and social enterprises have massive trouble accessing commercial funding. What terms will the banks be lending on and how this is anything new?

  • lastname

    4. Cutting public spending tends to reduce volunteering

    1) Is Hari seriously suggesting that only difference between Sweden and Eastern Europe or Massachusetts and Mississippi is the size of government?

    2) Once you combine the charities sector in the various parts of the country (http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/14/big-society-charities-third-sector-map ) with the size of government in the various parts of the country ( http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/april2010/cebr-state-nation-regional-expenditure.pdf ) you get an opposite correlation.

  • http://twitter.com/oranjd/status/37191591500320768 James Doran

    Five reasons why you can’t trust Cameron with the Big Society #CorporateWelfare http://bit.ly/gJmokG

  • http://twitter.com/salardeen/status/37191784597557249 salardeen

    RT @oranjd: Five reasons why you can’t trust Cameron with the Big Society #CorporateWelfare http://bit.ly/gJmokG

  • http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/nighthawk/?p=4921 What exactly is the Big Society? – NightHawk

    [...] the blog LeftFootForward offers five reasons why you can’t trust Cameron’s version of the [...]

  • http://twitter.com/allcharities/status/37201599143088129 Charity

    Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society: The large divergence between the billions of fund… http://bit.ly/i0BLCt

  • http://twitter.com/redstar987/status/37247549546962944 Redstar PCS Stoke

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons why you can't trust Cameron with the Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 by @wdjstraw

  • Mr. Sensible

    The ‘Big Society’ has been exposed as just a cover for spending cuts.

  • http://twitter.com/katmoonpie/status/37598265394466816 Kat Mooney
  • http://caspertk.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/link-loving-20-02-11/ Link Loving 20.02.11 « Casper ter Kuile

    [...] Will Straw has five reasons for why we can’t trust David Cameron with The Big Society. [...]

  • http://twitter.com/miss_peg/status/39839228896620544 Fiona
  • http://twitter.com/myinfamy/status/39853776718413824 Daniel Pitt

    Five reasons not to trust Cameron on Big Society http://bit.ly/hooeT5 #ConDemNation