Pinned
New piece from me in @RenewalJournal:
The 2025 local elections raised important questions about the future of local governance and whether Reform UK can offer a genuine alternative. Has it? And what does that mean for the Green Party?
Jack Shaw
8,833 posts
Jack Shaw
@JackTShaw
Director, Groundwork Research | Policy Fellow, The Productivity Institute | Sign-up to Notes on Local Government: substack.com/@notesonlocalg…
London
Joined March 2009
- From the Economist: Buckingham Palace, valued at ~£1 billion, sits in band H and is charged £1,828 by Westminster City Council, less than an average three-bedroom property in Blackpool. In 2024, 46 per cent of households in England will pay more in council tax than the Palace.
- Now the Local Government Finance Settlement has been published, I'm going to write a mega-thread on the status of individual local authorities. 1. Havering Council is "on the brink" of a Section 114. It now receives less than £2 million, down from £70 million in 2010-11.
- In 2010-11 Hampshire County Council spent £381 million on social care - equivalent to 53 per cent of its budget. In 2024, it estimates it'll spend £809 million - equivalent to 83 per cent of its budget. That's unsustainable. From the FT:
- The Leader of South Cambridgeshire has confirmed that the authority will not follow the Government's new guidance on four-day working week arrangements, given it is non-statutory. The guidance is here:
- I thought the Prime Minister's plan to invest in chess was an egregious example of centralisation as local authorities had to submit an Expression of Interest for a paltry £2,500. I enquired about the results and - with some help - have mapped the winners:
- Local authorities are pausing capital investment, introducing voluntary redundancy, selling off assets and in some cases re-interpreting their statutory responsibilities in order to set a balanced budget. A thread on the situation in authorities and the action they’re taking:
- Remember when the Government announced new chess tables for local authorities? On average, one new chess table for each 1.48 million people in England. Here's a regional breakdown:
I thought the Prime Minister's plan to invest in chess was an egregious example of centralisation as local authorities had to submit an Expression of Interest for a paltry £2,500. I enquired about the results and - with some help - have mapped the winners: - Moody's has in its sight 20 local authorities that it thinks are at the greatest risk:
- It's not the biggest news today, but I've joined @LabourTogether and am working on industrial strategy. Delighted to be part of the team.
- Ahead of the Budget tomorrow and in light of the Chancellor's forewarned suggestion that local authorities spend too much on consultants, the Government's consultancy expenditure increased by 130 per cent to £723 million from 2018-19 to 2021-22:
- The UK has the highest homelessness in the OECD - which has been on an upward trajectory since 2010:
- This from the Guardian will make for uncomfortable reading in government today. While the Leveling Up White Paper will cover a lot of ground, it can't escape the fact that it isn't matched by much-needed funding.
- How were the allocations of the Towns Fund split between Conservative and Labour? From the Guardian this morning:
