From C.J. Jelley:-I NOTE that New Labour is pledged to end compulsory competitive tendering in the public sector if it comes to power. I am moved to ask: Why? What is wrong with Wirral Council, for example, being required to seek competitive prices from potential external as well as internal suppliers for the provision of services which, it should be remembered, we pay for?

For our money, we have a right to expect - indeed, to demand - the best deal available and, as surely everyone knows from everyday life, you get this by shopping around and comparing prices. Harsh as it may seem, we pay our council taxes to fund services, not to keep council employees in work - unless, that is, those council employees can provide the required services at the best price.

Competitive tendering is thus a valuable spur to improved efficiency, as well as a way of ensuring that we, the people who ultimately pay the bills, get maximum value for our money. It is also a defence against fraud. To be meaningful, of course, it has to be compulsory, otherwise it is open to council whim and even to fraudulent manipulation.

So why should New Labour - who, after all, claim to be the party of the people - be against one of the few things in public life which is of real and obvious benefit to the people, perhaps more than to anyone else?

Irby

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.