Is Ryanair the Tory model for councils?
Barnet trade unionists got a nasty shock on the morning of Friday 28 August, finding our borough was front page news in the Guardian newspaper: “Tories adopt budget airline service model — London borough’s radical no-frills approach could drive Cameron policy”. The reason it was a shock was because we felt we were successfully heading off the Tory administration’s mass privatisation plan, “Future Shape”. Future Shape was floated initially as a grandiose scheme that would see the council reduced to a “strategic hub”, while the vast bulk of services would be outsourced as part of a pan-public-sector comprising the council, NHS, Barnet College, Middlesex University, local Jobcentres, etc. Future Shape was nurtured by secondees from British Telecom, who probably hoped that their company would get the contract to deliver the IT for this new “place shaping” alliance. In spite of the hype and the tens of thousands of pounds spent on consultancy fees, Future Shape has run up against reality: f
