General Election
Challenging the system
Shadow communities secretary, Andrew Gwynne, talks to Dan Peters about devolution, fiscal change, and his hope to represent the sector in a far more positive light
Let’s get back local government’s voice
Ahead of the Labour Party Conference, Nick Forbes outlines some of the challenges for local authorities and his hopes for the party in this next phase of governnance
‘Whitehall is committed to full rates retention’
Local government minister Marcus Jones has insisted the Government is ‘still fully committed to proceeding with’ business rates retention.
Electoral staff ‘need improvement’
Plymouth City Council must take ‘urgent action’ to improve the quality of its elections staff after it omitted counting more than 6,000 General Election votes, a review has urged.
Jones: Government fully committed to rates retention
Local government minister Marcus Jones has insisted the Government is ‘still fully committed to proceeding with’ business rates retention.
LGA calls for government to lift planning fees freeze
Councils have ramped up their calls for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to meet its commitment to allow them to increase planning fees by 20%.
‘Wall of silence’ blocking county devo
Councils covering areas outside cities have been left frustrated after being met by a ‘wall of silence’ from the Government on devolution.
Griffin replaces retiring Rickards
Sedgemoor DC has approved a new interim chief executive.
Should we be Keynesian about spending to offset Brexit?
If austerity as a name is history, if only for political reasons, then its successor, scarcity, is little better, writes Michael Burton.
Whitehall drags its feet on planning fees
A government commitment to allow councils to increase planning fees by 20% if they commit to reinvesting the additional income has been delayed, The MJ understands.
CIPFA conference: Councils will be at back of queue
Councils will be at the back of the public sector queue for additional funding, a senior local government figure has warned.
What do voters want?
As the dust settles on the recent election results – and with more people seemingly turning up to vote – Mark Rogers uses this period of reflection to offer some advice to local and national leaders.
DUP cash would transform Greater Manchester’s transport
Infrastructure funding of the scale afforded to Northern Ireland would revitalise the English regions, the chair of a major local government pension fund has argued.
We’ve been DUP-ped
‘You can’t put a price on democracy’, our mum once told a bewildered young Diary.
What alternatives are we offering?
A desire for local government to lead by example rather than wait on Westminster is gaining momentum, but there is still some heavy-duty lifting to be done, as Dr Jonathan Carr-West explains.
The local state we are in – and where to go from here
Fresh off the heels of PwC's 'Local State We're In' survey, Jonathan House looks at how local government can respond to the new sets of challenges it is faced with - from cyber attacks to public sector reform.
Octogenarians’ Olympiad
With pesky prolonged purdah out of the way, local government folk are under pressure to rush information into the public domain.
White Van Man on ... the DUP deal
Funny how on the one hand the Government can suddenly find a billion quid to give out in bribes when it keeps telling us it hasn’t got two pennies to rub together.
Dawn Baxendale: Chiefs have lost their public service raison d’être
Dawn Baxendale speaks to Sam Clayden about how Southampton City Council – and local government as a whole – will be grappling with an increasingly uncertain future
Westminster could learn something from local place leadership
Judith Blake highlights some of the outstanding examples of whole-place leadership in the UK's cities - an approach those in Westminster may be wise to adopt.