Levelling up has meant “everything and nothing” for some people because they “haven’t been able to get a fix on it” – not my words, but those of Michael Gove MP, on his 36th day as Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities.
New ‘county deals’ will help devolve power to local communities beyond England’s biggest cities, the Prime Minister has said in a keynote speech on the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.
Eight in 10 MPs say councils should have more financial freedoms and powers to build homes in their area and 72 per cent say they should have more control over local taxes, according to exclusive LGA polling by Savanta ComRes.
Local government’s response to COVID-19 has demonstrated that it does deliver and can be trusted. Now is the time for a new devolution settlement.
Friends, this is my last column ahead of the local elections and our group elections that follow.
Away from COVID-19, the future of the Union and devolution within it made some news headlines recently, with new polling showing increased support for Scottish independence and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown setting out his thoughts on the issues.
Devolution, like reorganisation, is a zombie issue – not really alive but not fully dead and refusing to do either properly.
Local government across the western world has been able to react to the COVID-19 crisis with greater powers and autonomy than councils in the UK, according to a new report from the think-tank Localis, commissioned by the LGA.
An extra £30 billion of spending was announced in the Budget in March, much of it aimed at dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.
Councils urgently need to know how the UK will replace billions of pounds of vital EU regional aid funding, the LGA has warned.