Douglas Carswell's Blog

Why politicians are out of touch

The political elite in SW1 are out of touch with the public on law and order, according to the Sunday Telegraph.  In a poll commissioned by Lord Ashcroft, 47 percent of voters think that no party has the right approach.

Why?  

Could it be that SW1 people, insulated for the most part by "safe seat" syndrome, have a tendency to "go native" - on crime, and much else?  Rather than represent the folk who elected them - and undertake the laborious task of working out how to change public policy - too many politicians simply end up adopting the attitudes and outlook of those in Whitehall.

Those officials who preside over our criminal justice system - in the manner of all bureaucracies - have various prejudices and preconceptions - what the French term déformation professionnelle .  At this moment in our history (thanks in large part to ideas about the nature of criminality from the 1960-70s), those who preside over our police, public prosecutors, courts and probation service, have come to regard rehabilitation of wrong-doers, rather than their punishment, as the primary purpose of the criminal justice system. 

It would take a great deal of verve and political will to challenge this basic assumption, and dis-entangle public policy from flawed sociology.  Much easier for ministers in every department just to go with the flow and champion the policy that Sir Humphrey puts in front of them.  Make the on-going departmental approach to crime, or special needs, or Europe, or defence procurement, or pretty much anything else, your policy.

In this way, governments may change, but the governing assumptions in Whitehall rarely shift;  even when they are obviously flawed to most outside, objective observers who don't happen to work in Whitehall or Westminster - such as voters.   

The reason I have been promoting radical localism and direct democracy is to address this institutional inertia in public policy making.  Open primaries and recall ballots for sitting MPs.  Referendums and popular initiative.  Confirmation hearings for senior public officials.

And of course, directly elected police and crime commissioners.  Then at last, the increasingly disillusioned majority might at last begin to get the sort of policy that they earn for.

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