Non-redistribution to the cities is known as democracy in action

One of the interesting little points about democracy is that it enables us, collectively, to change our minds. We can think of this without prejudice and potter along with the thought that we, the electorate, are proffered plans and we try them out to see if they work. If they don’t then come the next or subsequent election we get to change our plan and our minds. We can be more cynical - what we would refer to as realist - and decide that given the ghastly mess created by that lot we’ll try the others for all the good that will do us.

But whatever the tone of our explanation that we do get to change course is the very essence of the basic set up:

Ministers have been accused of a “stitch-up” over proposals to redraw the funding formula for councils in a way critics say will redirect scarce cash from deprived inner cities to affluent Conservative-voting shires.

The proposed changes – which include the recommendation that grant allocations should no longer be weighted to reflect the higher costs of poverty and deprivation – come amid increasing concern over the sustainability of local authority finances.

Leaders of urban councils have written to ministers to complain that under the “grossly unfair and illogical” proposals, potentially tens of millions of pounds would be switched to rural and suburban council areas.

That we’ve collectively changed our minds is the explanation for this. For, under the Brown Terror, the system was moved to one of more redistribution from those leafy shires to the grim and bitter inner cities. That might be a good or a bad idea, might be righteous and might be approaching theft. But it is indeed what the duly elected government of the day decided should happen, we having done that electing to do this.

We’ve had more than the one election since then, we’ve put the other lot in charge and thus we seem to have changed our minds upon the desirability - to say nothing of the perceived righteousness or theftness - of such redistribution.

We do actually get to do that, it’s the very point of our having this democratic system. We the people have changed our minds. And?