Trust is the missing ingredient in the Government’s plans for levelling up, according to Labour’s Lisa Nandy.
The Shadow Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary told the LGA’s annual conference in Harrogate that she wanted levelling up to succeed but that it wasn’t working.
“There’s something bigger than money, power and detail missing from the levelling up plan – and that’s trust,” she said.
“No new powers for places as promised, but instead a process that allows people to bid in for a little more – and only if they accept a mayor….
“Hunger Games-style bidding processes that pit area against area as councils try to jump through hoops to get a part-refund on the £15 billion that’s been taken over the last decade, and with fewer and fewer staff to do it.
“And council leaders still having to go cap in hand to junior ministers to beg for small grants and powers to do the things they know will work.”
Ms Nandy said that Labour’s approach to local government would be to give all councils the powers to deliver their “vision for local growth – whether it’s the control over buses to connect people to apprenticeships and jobs, friends and family, or powers to raise money like the tourist levy being pioneered by Manchester City Council.”
She added: “We will reimagine the state, push power outwards and put power back in the hands of the people who are rebuilding Britain.”