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Sir Simon Milton has thrown down the gauntlet over devolution, and called on prime minister Gordon Brown to give councils more power. In a speech to think-tanks Policy Exchange and Localis today (12 September) , the Local Government Association chairman outlined his vision for putting councils at the heart of British democracy. Sir Simon called on the Government to assign 10% of seats in a reformed second chamber in Westminster to representatives from local government, possibly council leaders. ‘There is nothing radical here,' he said. ‘In Germany and the Netherlands, for example, the whole upper house of Parliament is made up of the representatives of lower tiers of government.' The Westminster City Council leader also called for council leaders and MPs to both sit on the new regional select committees. ‘From the other perspective, we need to integrate MPs more closely into what local government does,' he said. ‘Some councils already involve their MP in, for example, their Local Strategic Partnership, where elected politicians with both kinds of mandate can join together with other partners to develop a vision for their area. ‘Should councils go further, and systematically co-opt their MP as a member of the council?' Sir Simon also talked about creating pre-scrutiny arrangements to examine the impact new legislation would have on councils, and how much it would cost to implement them. He also called for the National Audit Office and the Audit Commission to be replaced with a single body to regulate all tiers of government, and aligning the codes of conduct for both councillors and MPs. ‘Despite welcome support from the Government, and from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats for localism, I believe local councils will only be free when we can guarantee the rights of local councils, and the democratic mandate of councillors, in a constitutional convention,' he said.

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WHITEHALL

Milton throws down the gauntlet

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