Just to dip our toe in the political world, worth drawing out a few headlines from the big players speeches at their various venues recently.

First up, the Lib Dems Menzies Campbell, who didn’t talk directly about the third sector, but did talk of the need for "local solutions to local problems" and of public services being tailored both to the needs of the individual and the "long-term" needs of the community. And they committed to some environmental tax policies, lest we forget.

Second up, Labour. Tony Blair‘s speech also didn’t deal with the specifics of our world, though in an Andrew Marr interview he did say, re public services:

"And if you look
around the world today, what’s happening are two things in virtually every major
industrial country. One, the barriers between public, private and independent
voluntary sectors…are coming down.

So that is going to carry on. And the
other thing quite specifically is the voluntary sector, the third sector, is
playing a far greater role in delivery. Not traditional, central or local
government. Now we’ve got to be at the forefront of that argument, in my view.

Because as I say, the issue at the next
election will be very, very simple for the British people. Yes, it will be who
will continue the investment, that’s important. But it’s also going to be, who
are the people that are going to deliver the service for you the parent, you the
patient? And we’ve got to be on top of that argument."

Gordon Brown, meanwhile, said that "the task is also to build stronger
communities and as nine years of government have taught us we can only
build strong communities by championing the active involvement and
engagement of local people themselves".

More sectorally, he said that:

"I want a new compact that elevates the third sector as
partner, not as the Tories see it – a cut price alternative to
government – but government fulfilling its responsibilities to fund
services and fully valuing the contribution the voluntary sector can
make."

Which brings us neatly to David Cameron, who spoke yesterday. He made ‘social responsibility’ the keynote theme of his speech, and some sections of interest include:

"The unintended consequence [of Labour’s top-down initiatives] is to stifle the very spirit of community self-improvement that they are responding to. Our response, based on our philosophy of social responsibility, is to trust local leaders, not undermine them. So we will hand power and control to local councils and local people
who have the solutions to poverty, to crime, to urban decay in their
hands."

AND

"We want companies to create their own solutions to social and
environmental challenges, because those are the solutions most likely
to last. So in a Conservative Britain, corporate responsibility will provide the
best long-term answer to economic insecurity, well-being in the
workplace, and environmental care."

We can also scarcely let pass the advent of WebCameron.org.uk which has been widely mocked, but is streets ahead of anything the others are attempting in terms of using the true potential of the internet. It will be interesting to see how it progresses, and how much it is used (by both Cameron and his hoped-for audience). Will the audience develop a sense of webcamaraderie? Will the LibDems (or Labour?) respond with WebCampbell?

Enough already. On the speech excerpts, it is interesting that it is only Cameron who seems to think that this (third sector and all that entails) will be one of the key battlegrounds of the next election, and his emphasis reflects that. The challenge for Brown will be to deliver on the message of double devolution and community ownership of structures and solutions in the interim. Otherwise, it may be the Tories who get the chance to justify what are undoubtedly welcome words with the considerably more difficult job of framing them as policies and putting them into action.