Tory leader David Cameron set out his vision for local government at his speech to the LGA conference last week. Mr Cameron described the Conservatives as a ‘localist party' and again pledged to abolish regional assemblies and the Standards Board for England. However, Mr Cameron warned his supporters that there would be no ‘magic pot of money' for councils if the Tories take charge of the government in the next general election. ‘The cupboard is empty,' he said. ‘If a Conservative government gets in next time, there will not be some extra pot of money to give to local government.' He said 22 regional quangos have been created since 1997 and 287 pieces of legislation have been passed with the words ‘local government' in the title. He also reaffirmed the Conservative's opposition to more local government reorganisation. ‘They start in tears and they end in tears,' he said. ‘I don't believe that giving councils more power means that smaller councils won't be able to cope. The floods last year were a real test for small councils. I would say in the way they handled the emergency, that small councils, like mine, did an incredibly good job.' Mr Cameron said he was in favour of directly elected mayors in big cities. ‘If you look around the world, great cities need great leadership and a mayor will bring that,' said Mr Cameron. He also promised a new local government bill if the Conservatives are elected at the next general election to remove some regulatory burdens on councils. In addition, Mr Cameron said parish councils should be ‘celebrated' and ‘nurtured'.
