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The day before PM Gordon Brown went to Buckingham Palace at the end of March to seek dissolution of the last Parliament, three London local government politicians were invited on to the BBC's Daily Politics programme to discuss the forthcoming local election campaign. Spirited though the debate was, it was hard to avoid the impression that the broadcasters – fully aware that national politics were about to move centre stage – were using this small window of opportunity to get a tick in the box in terms of meeting their public service obligations in respect of the local campaign. Little that happened in the ensuing four weeks did anything to change that impression as local election coverage got buried beneath a national campaign which captured more public interest than many in recent times. There is nothing particularly surprising by any of this, of course. No-one expected the recent leaders' TV debates to turn on the future of two-tier England. It was never likely that we would be watching the on-screen worm of public reaction turn up or down in response to three competing visions of the future of Total Place. And yet, for all of that, what are about to become the dominant stories of the post-election landscape are all ones that local government will be centrally involved with. We all know that the burden of deficit reduction is going to bear heavily on the services which local councils are responsible for securing. Across our sector, we are equally certain that it will be harder to realise substantial savings without bringing more local public services together, with councils at the heart of that integration. The reform of politics, the re-building of public trust in politics and politicians, as well as any potential changes in electoral systems and the conduct of elections will all bear directly on the local state as well as the national. In addition, much was made during the election about how individuals and communities could be supported to shape their own solutions to the issues that they faced. In many cases councils will be a key resource in making that sort of aspiration a reality. Finally, outside of foreign and defence policy areas, there will be few more important policy challenges than those which concern themselves with the future of health and adult social care, welfare and schools. The debate about the role of councils in commissioning these sorts of services on behalf of local communities will be an intense one. So, as we move from national campaigning – at least for a while – to the key public policy challenges of the next period, it seems certain that local government's part will be a central one.

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WHITEHALL

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