Devolution
Building for the future
Ben Houchen says that with the former SSI steelworks site in Redcar now the UK’s largest industrial zone, something monumental is now underway – ‘and we can continue to help recover the wider Tees Valley’.
The Government’s actions ‘don’t match the words’
Rather than recognising the role of council workers during COVID-19, the Government has prioritised hitting their terms and conditions, says Christina McAnea of Unison.
South east urged to find its voice
Councils in the south east of England have been urged to find a consensus on reorganisation by a local government expert.
Burnham calls for national-local reset
Greater Manchester’s Labour mayor Andy Burnham has called for a ‘reset’ between national and local government after going to war with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
This is not devolution – this is not even centralism
‘Once the poster-child for devolution, Manchester is now being treated as the bad boy of politics – on the naughty step for daring to ask for a good deal for its residents’, says Heather Jameson.
The politics of the ‘Red Wall’ is coming home to roost
There is nothing local or ‘place-sensitive’ in measures packaged in Whitehall and forced on to communities in the North, argues Arianna Giovannini.
Tiers of trouble
More than half of England’s population is now living under high or very high-alert postcode COVID-19 restrictions. Ann McGauran asks if the new measures are sufficient, and looks at their impact on centre-local relations.
Hammond: COVID has sealed the fate of centralism
The COVID crisis has ‘sealed the fate’ of centralised public services in the UK, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has warned.
The challenge of health devolution in London
Dick Sorabji, deputy chief executive of London Councils, charts the progress of health devolution in the capital and considers the next steps forward in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
Report calls for fundamental reform
The handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the ‘dysfunctional relationship’ between central and local government, a report has argued today.
Jenrick dashes county reorganisation hopes
Local government secretary Robert Jenrick has torpedoed plans for widespread reorganisation beyond the three areas he has invited to submit unitary proposals.
The power of small things
Elinor Ostrom was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics. Simon Kaye argues that her ‘criminally neglected’ work could be a ‘call-to-action for a new type of society that prioritises local democracy and autonomous communities’.
Digging deep for change
The pandemic has not resulted in the big changes required to protect health and drive widespread transformation, says Neil McInroy.
Whatever happened to devolution?
Devolution is an ‘unfinished’, disconnected project that benefits some areas but excludes others, says Dr Arianna Giovannini. Shelving the White Paper will foster new inequalities and competition between devo deals ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, she adds.
Unitary aims to set standard for devo deals
Buckinghamshire Council is to reveal proposals for a devolution deal that it hopes will become a template for non-metropolitan authorities nationwide.
It’s time for Government to level up
There's still time to avoid levelling up becoming Boris Johnson’s Big Society, writes Sir Bob Kerslake - and two papers from the LGA and UK 2070 should be warmly welcomed by the Government as valuable contributions to their goal to build back better.
Making it local – real reform over reorganisation
By putting reform ahead of re-organisation in Somerset, the districts have developed a case for change that’s distinct to place-based context and local priorities, say Georgina Cox and Alex Parmley
Javid calls for 'fresh look at local government'
Former communities secretary Sajid Javid has called for a ‘fresh look at local government’.
Two challenges for councils
Professor Mark Thompson believes that while a focus on reducing duplication and waste in the current system of local government has much to recommend it, data should become the lifeblood of any new model.
Let’s fix our connectivity dysfunction
The Government is used to operating in broadcast mode rather than engaging in ongoing dialogue with local government, says Jessica Studdert, and she warns that without stronger connectivity, councils will constantly be on the back foot.
