Turning the tide
The campaign
We believe that power should be exercised as close to people as is practicable. But over the last 40 years, the power and autonomy of local government in the UK has declined. This ‘centralisation on steroids’ has left the UK more centralised than nearly every other OECD country.
Our campaign called for more power to be handed over to local communities. Councils understand their local areas better than central government, so they should have the power to make decisions and respond to local needs.
What did we deliver?
We commissioned a report in partnership with De Montfort University entitled ‘Local Government in England - 40 Years of Decline.’ This research revealed how local government powers, finance, responsibilities, and autonomy have been consistently eroded by successive governments.
We kicked off the campaign by hosting a national event to launch our report. Our members and supporters came along to hear us discuss the report’s findings and offer their thoughts.
Throughout the summer, we hosted a series of local events to discuss the report with councillors across the country. These events took place in Hillingdon, Sutton, Portsmouth, Oxford, Birmingham, Merseyside and West Cheshire. We heard from councillors and council leaders about the state of local government and what can be done to change things.
We also hosted a launch of our report in Parliament. This meeting was chaired by Clive Betts MP, the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee.
Along the way, we got over 260 councillors to sign a pledge to turn the tide on the centralisation of power in Whitehall and return it to local communities.
We conducted a survey amongst local councillors across England to ask for their views on the state of local government. We received responses from over 440 Councillors from all political parties as well as independent Councillors. The results demonstrated that many councillors, of all political persuasions, believe that central government has too much power at the expense of local government.
We sent our survey results to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and received a response from Neil O’Brien MP. He assured us that the White Paper for Levelling Up would deliver a ‘revolution for devolution’.
We also conducted a survey of councillors across the UK to gather their views on the Government’s Levelling Up plans. We received responses from over 290 Councillors from all political parties. The results showed that the majority of councillors are unhappy with the Government’s plans for Levelling Up. We sent these results to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and are waiting for a response.
What’s next?
Going forward, we will monitor the Government’s Levelling Up initiative, and assess whether it is helping to empower local decision makers to improve their area.
Devolution is a key plank of our ‘Powering Up’ campaign. This seeks to persuade political parties to adopt a package of democratic reforms in their manifestos for the next General Election.