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The summer season is upon us and it feels life is back in some kind of rhythm, no matter how stilted it seems, a fortnight away from the full relaxation of lockdown. At national political, the end of term could be marked by the possible arrival of the much-awaited levelling up white paper and the […]
Last Wednesday while Dominic Cummings’ testimony was dominating national attention, Localis convened a policy debate on what a long-term approach to the funding of local services might look like in the current context. We assembled The MJ’s very own Michael Burton, Abdool Kara, executive leader, local services from the National Audit Office (NAO), Lancashire CC’s chief executive […]
If timing is everything, there’s never a good time to talk about local government finances. In the spring it is ousted to its rightful place in the fiscal pecking order below health, defence and education – with a bone or two thrown into pothole relief. Summer’s a washout. When we are back to school in […]
Who should be ruling us and by what right should anyone claim to be an expert in governing, or steering the ship of state? What Dominic Cummings said before the joint commons select committees last month is, once you strip away the emotion and impact, a plain tale as old as the hills. What practical […]
The injunction to “live local and prosper” is the order of the day in the aftermath of last week’s local and devolved regional elections. Good quality neighbourhoods, vibrant high streets, decent school provision and abundant high-skilled jobs from a prosperous local economy – everything that instils pride in place should be encouraged. The Government can […]
Yesterdays Queen’s Speech was undeniably short on surprises, yet there is still some new information to be gleaned on the size and shape of the Levelling Up agenda and the future of local government in England, which we expound upon below. The entire speech and supporting documents are available here. Levelling up slides into focus When […]
Like a wild schoolyard football game, it will be a case of everyone’s eyes on the ball, with their legs enthusiastically following, as we throw our attention into the joyful pile-on of local and devolved election results. We should certainly enjoy the spectacle of postponed local democracy restored, while voters in their millions flock to […]
Politics and regional railways have had a somewhat peculiarly difficult history from the outset. At the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool railway on 15 September 1830, MP for Liverpool, William Huskisson, was attempting to clamber into the Duke of Wellington’s carriage on the steam locomotive ‘Northumbrian’ during a stop for water. He fell and […]
In recent weeks there has been a lively and engaging post-Budget debate on this website around the Government’s Plan for Growth and its recalibration of industrial policy, enlivened by telling contributions from Greg Clark and ConservativeHome’s own Paul Goodman. The new business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng has derided the ancien regime Industrial Strategy as “a pudding with no theme”. Indeed, Andy […]
by Joe Fyans, Head of Research Is it localism of a sort when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the back end of an unprecedented national crisis, takes a break from delivering the budget statement to campaign for the Mayor of Tees Valley? If it is, it’s a sort of partisan localism etched through yesterdays’ announcements like a stick […]