Productive relationships
September marks the start of the new political year, and I am delighted that, in its first week, we held the first ‘Blue Team’ meeting with our new Shadow Secretary of State, James Cleverly, and his shadow ministerial team.
Councillor Kevin Bentley
Road tax should be going to councils
National Highways maintains just 2 per cent of England’s roads, while our local authority highway departments maintain more than 90 per cent.
Importance of speaking as one voice
The local elections were a bruising and depressing night for the Conservative Group. One by one, we lost incredibly good, hard-working colleagues who lost through no fault of their own.
The biggest power grab in decades
The Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill will do little to get spades in the ground and increase England’s housing supply.
One of the hardest budgets to set
I have been a councillor since 2002 and this has been one of the most challenging budget processes I have been through. Why, one might ask?
Local consensus needed on reorganisation
I hope colleagues across local government had a good Christmas and I am sure everyone is back into the swing of things as we enter 2025.
Ministers don’t get it on National Insurance
My preliminary discussions with council leaders over recent weeks, ahead of February budget setting, continually brings to bear the reality of the Labour Government’s seismic increase to employer National Insurance contributions.
Expect seismic increase in EHCPs
The first Budget for any government is an opportunity to sell their agenda for the course of a Parliament.
Local government is the pillar of our party
Conservative Party conference this year demonstrated that the Conservative local government family is now the dominant pillar of our party.
Local government needs more equal relationship
All politics is local and that is precisely the message the LGA Conservative Group has been getting across to the candidates in the Conservative leadership election.