Title

Local government is not usually a source of rampant controversy in Westminster, except when it comes to reorganisation, which has a brutal history for Conservatives. It scarred MPs and ministers in the early 1990s and it reopened old sores a decade-and-a-half later when Labour planned for the nine new English unitaries, operating from April 2009. With county Tory leaders keen to see new unitary counties against the policy of Conservative Central Office – which had a protective arm round its district foot soldiers – the scene was set for severe behind-the-scenes arm-twisting. In the end, the Tory front bench could not avoid the creation of unitary counties, but its members were adamantly against any more reorganisation and, indeed, blocked plans in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk days after forming the coalition last May. But there are indications that this policy is evolving. First, Conservative ministers are not, in principle, opposed to councils merging and, indeed, they positively encourage it because of the savings generated. Second, mergers are gathering momentum out of sheer economic need and no longer are they confined to cash-strapped districts but spreading to London boroughs. Third, the local government political landscape will start turning red from next spring, and there will be less incentive for the coalition to be quite so bothered about having fewer councils. And fourth, it is difficult to argue that councils should merge managements and services yet retain all the elected members with all their costs. Some districts are already looking at full member mergers or reducing numbers – as is a unitary such as Telford and Wrekin – so it is unsurprising that the Boundary Commission has now registered this changed scenario and is consulting on how to enable councils to reduce the number of members, if they so wish. Critics will argue this means a diminished democratic capacity, but with some shire districts having the same number of members as London boroughs this is a moot point. So long as the councils retain their outward-facing identities it is unlikely the public, if consulted during a referendum, will object. It is an inevitable consequence of management mergers.

Title

WHITEHALL

Merging members as well as officers

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