| Comment | My feeling is cause it's been relatively taboo until recently to broach the idea of bringing things back into public ownership. For the SNP and even Labour until the last few years, it would have been politically toxic to have touched it. The SNP in particular have had a pretty 'play it safe' approach to big policy questions, not wanting to alienate potential supporters.
The idea of changing these laws and giving councils this power back has never been a hot button issue that's demanded their attention. Why would they risk volunteering to get behind it when they'd only get flak, I guess has been their thinking. It's been easy to ignore.
Think this taboo has lifted in about the last 3 years or so. In any case, it's up to the public to keep pressing for it. It might reach a tipping point soon (appears to already have for Labour), where they recognise that it's a potential vote winning issue for them. If people keep it in the public debate long enough, the SNP might swing behind it too, for purely tactical electoral reasons (their current draft Transport Bill is really very weak on giving councils powers, and ignores much of the needed law change). |
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