• Share on Facebook
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Linkedin
  • Share by email
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Linkedin
  • Share by email

Christopher Gordon considers the implications of the 'No' vote in the North East for UK cultural policy. The arm's-length (renamed the 'wrist's length' by Raymond Williams in 1979 even before Thatcher gained power!) is now very exposed on Procrustes? bed. With both the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly talking up the key strategic importance of culture as a cross-cutting strategic theme, the vested interests of the relevant bits of the Quango state come under closer scrutiny. One of the paradoxes here is that the traditional institutional arts and heritage interests ? which tend to be grumblingly content with a centralised Quango model which is easier to manipulate than the democratic alternative ? are diverging from the expanding creative industries model, which is very firmly rooted in local and regional economies. Whilst the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a consequence of Chris Smith?s 1998 initiative has done well for this UK sector's visibility, it is an open secret that the Ministry resolutely resisted all the Deputy PM?s calls for concessions which might lead to a serious offer of cultural authority to the regional assemblies. So much so that the consultation paper on culture never appeared. Time to choose Does this really matter for culture? I believe it does. Parts of the UK are now having to confront two largely irreconcilable alternatives, and make a choice. Both have their passionate advocates and defenders, but one represents a huge change in the ?British? way of doing things which has been in place for more than 50 years. Recent decades have seen a collective loss of faith in the ability of governments to engineer change through top-down strategies. It is no longer the crude 1980s question of ?more? or ?less? government, but rather of the most appropriate forms of government. Getting the balance right between decentralisation and hierarchical control from the centre is still a key dilemma for cultural policy and delivery. Resisting democracy The two most important recent European studies on cultural policy decentralisation trends put Britain, and England in particular since 2000, at the extreme end of anti-democratic practice. The absence of constitutional and general legislative competence is not only seen as hampering genuine decentralisation, but the reinforcing of Quangos and ?government? regional agencies actually assists a centralist concentration of power through the devolution process(1). This is a topical issue in France, where the Senate is currently engaged in serious investigation on whether the political will of two major decentralisation initiatives in culture (from 1982 and again from 1997) are actually delivering what was intended. No prizes for guessing correctly which side the cultural institutions think their baguettes are buttered on. In Italy the Berlusconi government is making it up as it goes along, with a huge unexamined confusion between ?privatisation? and ?decentralisation? which not surprisingly terrifies heritage professionals. Regional re-think Back to the UK. So, that was John Prescott?s ?Great Northern Vote? then? Starting with the region of England the government felt most likely to be positive, from an apparent 75% level of support in principle, the result has delivered 78% against on a turnout of under 48%, in a pattern which is uniform across the whole area. The post mortem in the media and amongst the politically engaged is well under way. Take your pick: honourable failure, buried for all time, dead for a generation, right place but wrong time, lack of government commitment, a vote against politicians, a vote against more bureaucracy, a vote against central manipulation, a vote for genuine local democracy, a firm rejection of the derisory powers on offer, a generalised opportunity to administer a kick in the teeth for the Labour government in one of its strongholds. Around the Westminster village some were suggesting sotto voce well over six months ago (long before the now abandoned referenda in Yorkshire and the Humber, and in the North West, were ?deferred?) that the government?s developing big city strategy ?The Northern Way? was the exit route being prepared by the Deputy Prime Minister?s civil servants as an honourable way out of a probable regional assembly débâcle, given that few Ministers were really as committed as Prescott clearly still is. The likely consequences of yet another series of pragmatic fudges by the UK government was predicted by Charter 88 in July 2003: ?Faced with the proposed EU constitution, English devolution and the new Department of Constitutional Affairs, is the government prepared to bring democracy forward on a federal basis? ?when taken together they represent fundamental change to UK governance. These changes provide the opportunity for coherent, effective and clear demarcations of the relationship between the various layers of UK governance. However, to achieve this we need a ?roadmap? for constitutional reform... These reforms currently fortify a federal structure of UK governance without strengthening democracy.? Unaccountability continued We have in recent decades experienced the messy processes of devolution (at the second attempt) to Scotland and Wales under Blair, the gerrymandered shambles of English local government ?reform? under Major in 1995/96 and Thatcher?s high-handed abolition in 1986 of the metropolitan counties and the Greater London Council which had been established under the 1972 Act. All of these English developments ? with the possible exception of the reconstituted Greater London Authority ? have given cover for a creeping increase in the democratically unaccountable Quango state, with local government yet further diminished. Some clear and agreed written constitutional settlement is required to reinforce democracy at all levels, spell out the roles of each layer in order to allay fears about ?Europe? and create positive reasons for supporting devolution. But following recent events, and given the continuing and notoriously ignorant and malevolent tone of most UK commentary on ?Europe?, what chance is there of an informed referendum campaign on the new European Constitution in 2006 (another of Blair?s ?promises?), let alone on the question of joining the Euro? Given the current mood of cynicism towards politicians in general, I wouldn?t put any money either on the proposed Welsh referendum in a Labour third term for the Assembly to take on greater primary powers in health and education. Any referendum in Britain in the near future is likely to offer the electorate an irresponsible opportunity to respond ?sod the lot of you?. It is in great measure the dubious elision of fiscal and managerial accountability with genuine sub-national democratic progress that is leading to the current crisis for the respective Arts Councils in Wales and Scotland. Devolution has led to greater political accountability, but not to any increase in organisational accountability which is crucial to the success of the initiative, and for which the elected politicians now take the rap. Regional realities During the last weekend of October in Lille, joint European Cultural Capital 2004, the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage held its Annual General Assembly entitled ?Moving Territories ? Culture in a Europe of the Regions?. Case studies were presented of ?inter-regional? cultural co-operation in Europe; and one recurring theme was that the creation of artificial regions is not really proving successful, particularly in the new member states where the criteria of EU structural funds have required it. Some of the co-operation studies profiled what are clearly well-meant political or bureaucratic constructs, but without any notably exciting artistic results. The lumbering political timescales and processes of trans-border co-operation are likely to dampen even the most determined artistic impulse. Much more interesting for both artists and audiences are ?new? regions such as that created between Denmark and Sweden with the completion of the Øresund Bridge. Before the referendum obituary writers get too carried away, we should remember that regions of England (with strong identities or not) will continue to exist with much the same needs as they currently have. Following the North East referendum, the ?West Lothian Question? will now return with even more force, and this - and future - British governments are going to find winning any referendum extremely difficult for quite some time in the current public mood. Christopher Gordon has over 30 years? experience as an arts professional in the public sector, and is now an independent consultant in cultural policy. e: christophergordon@compuserve.com (1)Heiskanen, Ilkka, Decentralisation: trends in cultural policies ? Council of Europe Strasbourg 2001 Katunaric, Vjeran, Decentralisation in South East Europe ? European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam 2003