New renters’ protection plan announced
The Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has announced a series of measures to protect renters and improve housing standards.
Electoral lottery
Labour has lost a net 22 council seats in by-elections since July, with its average vote share in all such contests falling by more than 10 percentage points.
Laying bare the financial challenges
In November, we welcomed the great and the good of the local government world to Buckinghamshire, for the County Councils Network’s (CCN’s) Annual Conference 2024. We met in Marlow under dramatically different political circumstances compared with recent history. But while it is all change in the composition of MPs in the Commons, CCN’s approach to advocacy has not changed.
Falling smoking rates ‘testament’ to councils’ efforts
New figures show that around six million people aged 18 and over (11.9 per cent) smoked cigarettes in the UK in 2023 – the lowest proportion of current smokers since records began in 2011.
Disengaged voters
The final by-elections of 2024 only served to emphasise what we have been pointing out for months – that the electorate appears both volatile and disengaged.
Youth services ‘under threat’
The LGA has warned that youth services are “under threat” without fresh investment in local grass-roots provision for young people.