It didn’t take long. Two weeks ago, I reflected on the likely howls of rage, not least from Tory MPs, as George Osborne’s cuts programme began to bite. And so it has come to pass. Right across the country, ministers are under fire from voters about the schools and bypasses that won’t be built and the services that will be shut down.
My new MP, the metropolitan Conservative Julian Smith, who escaped to the country in search of an impregnable parliamentary majority, is on the rack over the proposed closure of Skipton Magistrates and County Courts. This is just part of a massive national shutdown, with four out of 10 magistrates’ courts facing the axe. Locally, Bingley and Keighley courts are also to close.
What we must now call offenders will have to travel to Harrogate – a journey over the tops that is best avoided in winter. County court customers will be redirected to Bradford. Both involve a round trip of at least 40 miles – and very much further if the miscreants live in the dales. And what about the solicitors who prefer rural life? Umbrage is widespread.
The police don’t fancy spending so much time on the road, the district council – Tory-controlled since May – is up in arms. Business leaders and magistrates are incandescent, and so are the anti-crime organisations. The burglaring community does not appear to have been consulted, but I imagine they’re none too pleased either.
This is not why Julian Smith came to the Yorkshire Dales – to lead a fight against Conservative government policies. “I look forward to leading a vigorous campaign to keep the courts”, he told the Craven Herald. “I will be campaigning hard to make the case that these courts are uniquely positioned to serve our local community.” And I look forward to Smith getting a bloody nose from the old bruiser, Ken Clarke, whose cost-cutting agenda does not include appeasing Johnny-Come-Latelys on the Tory backbenches. The Justice Secretary’s programme envisages the closure of 157 courts around the country, saving an estimated £37 million a year. It’s not a huge amount of money in the great scheme of things, but part of his contribution to “Cuts R Us”.
Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, rose in the House of Commons last week to demand an emergency debate on the issue. Closure of his courts would have “a devastating impact” on local justice, he argued.
His demand was brushed aside by David Heath, Deputy Leader of the House (and, incidentally, one of the most improbable members of the coalition Government), who ruled that there could be no debate until
after the 90-day consultation period with employees runs out on September 15. That is to say, no debate at all, because shutdown will be a fait accompli by then.
It will get worse. Contrary to previous spending reviews, ministers this time round are competing to be most macho by offering the biggest cuts, not the largest increase in departmental spending. If you want to get on side with Cam-Clegg, upset the voters, not the Chancellor. Unfortunately, Tory MPs – especially the new boys and girls – don’t quite know how to handle the problem of telling their voters that the cuts are for them and not just those lazy, good-for-nothing layabouts on benefits in safe Labour seats. When David Cameron says: “We’re all in this together”, surely he can’t mean us? We voted Conservative.
It would be hilarious if it weren’t so serious for the people who stand to lose so much. A young man accused of smoking dope in Bentham will have a 100-mile round trip to answer the charges against him, a journey that would take all day by public transport – if he has the money for the fare. Court staff are losing their jobs. The work of the police will undeniably be more difficult. Solicitors and the probation service will suffer. And the voluntary crime rehabilitation bodies – reliance on which Cameron has trumpeted his “Big Society” message – will all suffer. Long-distance justice may turn out to be justice denied.
So it’s just as well that Julian Smith is trying to endear himself to his constituents in more unusual ways, while steering clear of the publicity garnered by his predecessor David Curry. You will remember that he blotted his expenses copybook with that bizarre business about a love-nest in the Dales. To show how different he is, Joyful Julian took part in the annual birdman challenge at Broughton Game Show, to no very great avail. Contestants try to “fly” from a ramp across the estate’s beck, with a £1,000 prize for the successful “ornicopter”. Smith failed to clear the water, explaining: “I had been practising with my chicken wings and I thought they would power me across, but I think my heavy weight ended up working against them. I must lay off the cakes the week before if I ever try to do it again in the future.”
There isn’t a lot more you can say about that. Except that he will need more than chicken’s wings made out of cloth to overfly Ken Clarke.
