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Dr Jonathan Carr-West
Dr Jonathan Carr-West is chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU)
Shifting local elections to the spotlight
Dr Jonathan Carr-West says local elections represent a chance for people to express their views about national politics, but they deserve more than being treated solely as a backdrop to the Westminster soap opera.
The great rebuild
With local elections just around the corner, Jonathan Carr-West fears we are in a dangerous moment for democratic engagement and the process of rebuilding trust must start locally.
Honouring the Ukrainian spirit
The events in Ukraine have provided a timely reminder of how important our democracy is and how much we can lose. And, as Dr Jonathan Carr-West explains, councils have a vital role to play both immediately and further beyond back on home territory.
Missions misstep
When it comes to its 12 missions, the Levelling Up White Paper does not really enable the multiple, bottom up solutions required to deal with the key challenges we face, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West.
A whole lot of papers
December has been a tale of two White Papers. The one that is and the one that is yet to be, writes Dr Jonathan Carr-West.
Making the right connections
COP26 has raised awareness of the actions climate change requires. Dr Jonathan Carr-West argues that councils are ideally placed to act as a connection between individuals and the state to make transitions accessible to communities.
Let’s ground levelling up
The LGiU has set out the six core principles that must inform the approach to levelling up from now on. Dr Jonathan Carr-West explains.
Tough, uphill work lies ahead
We’ve had half a decade of strategic drift in local government policy, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West. The effect is that working in the sector ‘can feel like a particularly cruel Sisyphean punishment’ – but what can we do about it?
It’s not all about the money
It is dangerous if we let the discussion about the reform of social care become exclusively about funding, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West.
Place is the crucial lens
Dr Jonathan Carr-West looks at how we might make levelling up and devolution work together.
Levelling up transformatively
The tension between two very different approaches to levelling up could be 'a significant structural fissure in our political life over the next few years’, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West.
Local elections 2021: Look behind the big story
A closer look at the Super Thursday outcomes reveals a series of more complex stories, and suggests a centrally-driven levelling up agenda would be an error, says Jonathan Carr West.
Making elections meaningful
We need two things from our electoral system says Dr Jonathan Carr-West – enough stability to maintain public confidence and the possibility of meaningful change. But have we got the balance quite right?
Unfinished business
The vision in Budget 2021 focused on a global, green, high tech economy, ‘but there was no sign of local government, local public services or local institutions of any sort’, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West.
Will May be a missed chance?
The Prime Minister wants the elections to go ahead. But Dr Jonathan Carr-West says that whether a U-turn ‘has already happened or is still to come, we have missed an opportunity to make an early and clear decision’.
Looking ahead with hope
‘You would be mad not to feel some trepidation’ as we look ahead to 2021, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West. ‘But while we have so many amazing people doing such incredible things for their community, I think we can also feel some hope’.
Let’s talk about homes
Homes provide so much more than shelter, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West. He argues that a different sort of conversation is needed that isn’t just about planning or ‘how many houses you build’.
Central government needs to stand back
Dr Jonathan Carr-West asks if anyone has any sense of a sustained strategic focus on tackling the pandemic from government, and he feels only local government can manage the alignment of social, environmental and economic recovery that we need.
Trust in the public realm really matters
Trust in public institutions cannot be rebuilt if different levels of government are seeking to divert blame on to each other, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West.
Redrawing our future after COVID
What we have learnt from coronavirus is that we need flexibility, adaptability and civic solidarity, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West - and in the next phases of the pandemic the need for relocalisation will become more urgent for at least three reasons.
