So what at first glance appears to be co-op based localism is in fact privatisation at a local level. And lacking serious detail, having been poorly thought out.
Now, being the bearded lefty that I am, I'm in favour of the co-op bit, but not so much the privatisation bit. It's all well and good introducing a profit motive, but we've seen in things like Academy schools that allowing these bodies too much freedom, coupled with a profit motive, means they end up cherry picking the best cases and leaving the others be. This is bad enough when there is a state welfare net to catch these poor buggers, but when it's the state that's abandoning them, where do they turn?
Having read Peston's article, it seems that it's political manoeuvring designed to catch a few off-guard liberal lefty types who have heard the word 'co-operative' and like it, but don't know about the profit motive involved.
Centralisation/localism is another can of worms. Localism and decentralisation sound great from opposition, but I think the fact they rarely come to fruition has more behind it than power grabbing from the centre. National-wide standards, as against a 'post-code lottery' being a prime example.