Local Government

West Midlands’ “Independence Day”?

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Catherine Staite & Jason Lowther

With the dust nowhere near settling from the fallout of last month’s national referendum on membership of the EU, some English regions are following Scotland’s lead in demanding greater autonomy. London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, is looking for the devolution of fiscal responsibility, including tax raising powers, as well as more control over business and skills, housing and planning, transport, health and policing and criminal justice.

West Midlands residents are now being asked for their views on a new elected mayor for the region’s Combined Authority.

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Cities will need to lead the way post-Brexit

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Paul Bunyan

In the aftermath of the decision to leave the EU, class has been highlighted as the main cause of the referendum divide, the Labour MP Frank Field describing the result as “the first clear revolt against globalisation and its undermining of working-class living standards”. Alongside class a clear contrast is also being drawn between the urban and the rural. Under the heading “A less than United Kingdom’, Mark Easton, BBC social affairs correspondent commented:

“The maps of how people voted show that this was a victory for the countryside over the cities, particularly in England. London, Manchester, Bristol, Leicester, Leeds and Liverpool – for the most part, the metropolitan centres voted to remain. But the further from the big city centres one travels, the more emphatically people voted to leave”.

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The local elections concluded – the NOC results, outcomes, and a repeat moan

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Chris Game

This blog, definitely my last on this year’s local elections, is late, but largely because its focus necessitated waiting for several councils’ Annual Meetings, the season for which only recently ended. That in itself is frustrating, but it’s not the moan in the title. The titular moan is one I’ve made before, in these columns and elsewhere, but to no noticeable effect, so I’m now trying to improve its chances by putting it up front and incorporating some potentially more influential moaners.

In fact, it’s a two-part moan, the general part being the extent to which far too many councils still keep their own voters and citizens – let alone curious outsider weirdos like me – under-informed about one of the uniquely defining features of our local democracy (the key’s in the noun): council elections, their results and outcomes.

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Lords a leaping….to the rescue?

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Anthony Mason

A series of significant defeats by the House of Lords to the Housing and Planning Bill may give some comfort to households at the very bottom of the housing ladder

Catherine Staite doesn’t hold back in her criticism of the centralising tendencies of UK governments – of all political hues.  And, as might be expected from a pragmatic academic, she excoriates government for making policy with no apparent reference to evidence.  Her most recent blog on these linked subjects (one of many) also brings local government into the line of fire.

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The May local elections: A selection of those in the metropolitan boroughs

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Chris Game

My previous elections preview tabulated all the local, regional and even parliamentary elections taking place on Thursday 5th May. This preview focuses on just the top two-line entry in that table: the 36 English metropolitan boroughs, 32 of which are electing one third of their councillors, and three their whole councils. In fact, the focus is narrower still – on just eight councils where even these partial elections could for various reasons prove more than averagely interesting.

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Who’s voting for what on 5th May?

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Chris Game

We all know why the English local elections on 5th May are important, don’t we? They’ll test Labour’s electability under Jeremy Corbyn, and possibly Corbyn’s own survivability. They’ll show whether the Lib Dems’ glacially slow recovery has been boosted by their new leader, Tim Farron – and whether UKIP repeats its General Election performance in votes (lots) or seats (very few). Above all, though, the parties’ national equivalent vote shares will be taken as an early indicator of who might win the 2020 General Election – by the people who last year couldn’t on 6th May tell us who would win outright the following day.

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