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It now seems to be a standard feature of our electoral cycle for general elections to take place on the same days as significant local elections in England. In 1997, 2001 and 2005, people in shire areas voted for Members of Parliament and county councillors at the same time. Although this has not happened in metropolitan districts since 1979, the current polls in London boroughs, and many other places, take place at a hugely-significant time. One of the obvious outcomes of this is that the local implications become dominated by national trends. Although on the last three occasions, English citizens have demonstrated a discerning ability to vote differentially, the prominent public messages are national. There are tensions within all three major political parties about policy commitments and implications on the ground in different parts of the country. This may be tempered by an increasing commitment to localism across Westminster, but it will not be eliminated entirely. Viewing local elections as a sub-division of national political trends reinforces our reputation as the most centralised democracy in the western world. The broadcast media reinforces this strongly – when did you last hear a prominent local politician or LGA spokesperson commenting on the results of local elections? That seems to have become the preserve of national politicians or academics. Despite being well informed, how can they really understand what is happening in specific localities? There are both structural and cultural implications of this. Local councils have a fixed electoral cycle, so one Thursday in May is dedicated for this purpose. While most post-war general elections took place in the autumn, a spring date has become increasingly popular in the last 30 years. The tactical advantage of the serving prime minister deciding an election date could be replaced by fixed-term parliaments, but my guess is this is unlikely. Moreover, we value elections as long as we do not have to turnout too often! The more important cultural change is to ensure that local elections matter in their own right. Devolution in Scotland and Wales has encouraged this, and there are examples of local issues transforming council composition in England. So, a suitable deal might be giving local governments more powers, as long as they operate in the most transparent and accountable manner. Then, local people are more likely to judge them on performance, rather than their own political affiliation, whatever the electoral cycle. John Ransford is chief executive of the Local Government Association

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WHITEHALL

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