21 July 2021

Boris Johnson’s levelling up speech was designed to kick-start devolution, quash the critics and calm the blue wall. Heather Jameson asks, did it succeed?

20 May 2021

The Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda is meaningless without more devolution to councils and investment in local public services says a report from the House of Lords.

19 May 2021

The Prime Minister has announced 57 local areas will share £830m to transform high streets as part of the Government's levelling up plans.

05 May 2021

Greater powers, more devolution and a fundamental review of local finances have been promised to local government by the Prime Minister himself. John Tizard outlines the wide-ranging policy pledges featured in his recent dream.

21 January 2021

Local elections will go ahead on 6 May despite the ongoing pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ruled.

14 January 2021

The Prime Minister has promised councils will receive data on the COVID-19 vaccination programme in their areas within days.

23 November 2020

Devolution should be a stepping stone to passing power down to local communities and businesses, Boris Johnson has told Scottish Conservatives.

17 November 2020

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick has defended the Prime Minister’s claim that devolution in Scotland has been a ‘disaster’.

18 August 2020

As local government works hard to revive local economic activity and resume normality, there is strong support from its communities for it to do whatever it takes, according to Ben Page.

31 July 2020

Dame Louise Casey has been nominated to sit in the House of Lords as a crossbench peer in the latest list released today.

17 July 2020

Councils will get new powers to shut down premises in a bid to control the spread of coronavirus as we head towards the next phase of the pandemic, the Prime Minister has announced.

07 July 2020

Care chiefs have rejected claims by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that it was their lack of vigilance that led to a high number of coronavirus deaths in care homes.

01 July 2020

Boris Johnson’s speech in Dudley was ‘a mastery of political tub-thumpery’, says Heather Jameson. ‘But beyond the soundbites, much of the PM’s speech was a rehash of manifesto commitments and pre-announced cash.'

18 June 2020

Prime minister Boris Johnson was forced to deny he has been slow to act on council funding during a Parliamentary clash with Labour leader Keir Starmer yesterday.

15 June 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set up a cross-government commission to look at ‘all aspects’ of racial inequality in the UK including health and employment following the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

13 May 2020

Central government excluded local partners from key intelligence and failed to share enough information, hampering the response to coronavirus, an interim operational review leaked to The MJ has found.

30 March 2020

Steve Barwick outlines three reasons why COVID-19 is creating the shift in public opinion and institutional reality that makes the next chapter of ‘better wider, deeper’ devolution more likely.

25 March 2020

Reducing the spread of the virus requires Westminster to loosen the reins of power and to trust decision-makers in local and combined authorities to know what is right for their communities, argues Sarah Longlands.

20 March 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told local government it has to ‘do what it takes’ to beat the coronavirus crisis.

12 March 2020

May’s local elections should be postponed until the autumn, the Electoral Commission has said.