Tag Archives: Local government

Chris White writes: Powerful stuff from Clegg at the LGA conference

By Chris White | Published 30th June 2011 - 3:10 pm

One of the highlights of the political calendar is the annual Local Government Association (or more correctly ‘Group’) conference. It’s a bit like a party conference but people go to bed earlier. And there are other political parties here. And officers.

Its formal function is to be the sovereign body of the LGG. It also allows exhibitors to exhibit, group leaders to network and national politicians to showcase.

So we heard from David Cameron, the first serving prime minister to speak at an LGA/LGG conference. He told us sternly that pensions had to be reformed and that strikes would only hurt the …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Nick Clegg’s speech in Sheffield on the difference that Liberal Democrat councils are making

By Nick Thornsby | Published 20th April 2011 - 12:55 pm

On Saturday, Nick Clegg delivered a speech to local party activists in Sheffield on the difference that Liberal Democrat councils across Britain are making. It’s a good speech which expands on many of the examples that we started to hear at conference in Sheffield last month about how Liberal Democrat councils are using innovative techniques to keep service and job losses to a minimum in these difficult financial times.

Here’s the speech in full:

The Liberal Democrats have a long, proud and successful history in local government.

We run some of the nation’s biggest cities and some of the most effective councils across

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , | 9 Comments

Chris White writes: thoughts on the letter to the Times

By Chris White | Published 16th February 2011 - 1:25 pm

Last week saw much excitement when 90 leading Liberal Democrat councillors wrote to the Times criticising the leadership of Eric Pickles. I was not one of them.

In 2009 I thought long and hard about the circumstances in which such letters are appropriate and as a result offer 6 tests:

  1. Is the objective clear?
  2. Is the objective likely to be more achievable as a result of the letter?
  3. Does it avoid attacking our own side?
  4. Is the timing appropriate?
  5. Is the medium appropriate?
  6. Does it avoid looking elitist and self-regarding?

The letter to the Guardian from members of the Federal Policy Committee during the Autumn Conference …

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Posted in Local government, Op-eds | Also tagged , , | 4 Comments

Carlos Tevez and Local Government

By Martin Land | Published 18th December 2010 - 11:34 am

So Carlos Tevez would like to leave Manchester City. He still has more than three years to run on his incredibly expensive contract, but has informed the press that he has played his last game for Man. City. Now, I’ve nothing against Man. City (other than them not being Liverpool) and my sympathy lies very much with their owners and management. No club should be bullied in this way, and I hope the rich Middle Eastern owners of Man. City will do football a real favour, by refusing to bow to this pressure and continuing to insist Tevez comes to …

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Posted in Humour, Local government, Op-eds | Also tagged | 3 Comments

Chris White writes: trust me – this really is going to hurt

By Chris White | Published 11th November 2010 - 3:03 pm

We all knew there would be cuts and some have recently received rather a high profile (and yes – I do condemn the outcome of the tuition fees march).

Local government rarely gets sympathetic headlines at the best of times but it has done extraordinarily badly in the Comprehensive Spending Review – and without much media interest.

Local government will receive cuts in grant of 28%, compared with the 19% in other ‘unprotected’ departments (ie departments other than education and health). Local communities will also see 20% cuts in police funding and 25% cuts in fire and rescue.

On top of the simple …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 30 Comments

Chris White reports: a radical approach to localism

By Chris White | Published 19th October 2010 - 12:27 pm

I have long thought that Party policy making has tended to be elitist and untransparent. In my own little universe – FPC’s Localism working group – I am keen to change this.

So the papers of the group are now being shared with anyone who put a card in for the Localism debate in Liverpool.

And I will update party members and activists in places like Lib Dem Voice.

We met on 6 October and looked at a new draft of the paper. Our previous thinking is now deeply influenced by the change in the political landscape, not least the Localism Bill due …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 3 Comments

John Pugh MP writes… What I have learned from ‘The Mafia’

By John Pugh MP | Published 10th October 2010 - 3:15 pm

Stephen Tall on this site last week queried why it was that so many Liberal Democrats sounded ‘conservative’ on public sector reform. Supporting local democratic bodies (ie, councils) was likened to Conservative support of business and Labour support of unions— both sectional interests.

I think this is a flawed analysis. Liberal Democratic attitudes follow not from any sectional interest but a belief in democratic accountability. Opposition to many alleged reforms in public services hinge on a conviction that they are a poor substitute for it.

To understand what’s going on I have learned from Mafia films you must ‘follow the money.’

We …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 7 Comments

Coalition to rule out ‘pay as you throw’ waste charge – but why do they think it’s their job?

By Stephen Tall | Published 7th June 2010 - 10:30 am

The Guardian reports:

Ministers are expected to announce that they are scrapping Labour plans to introduce “pay as you throw” rubbish schemes. Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, and Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, will confirm that they will end schemes in which people are charged for household waste collections or for producing too much rubbish.

In one sense this is a bit of a non-story. Labour didn’t, despite the Guardian’s misleading report, plan to introduce ‘pay as you throw’ rubbish schemes – what they did was enable councils to pilot such schemes if they wished. Unsurprisingly, not least given the furore …

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Opinion: Tory school plans will give parents nightmares

By Chris White | Published 2nd March 2010 - 2:37 pm

Monday’s Today Programme on Radio 4 majored on local government.

It was the usual shambles. We were told that local authorities were expecting to make cuts in services – hardly news. One reporter told us that libraries were not used by many people – in fact had she spent ten minutes on research she would have discovered that libraries are visited by half the adult population each year. This makes libraries far more popular than any if not all of the sporting events on which the BBC lavishes time and our money each year.

Another reporter told us that local authorities …

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Posted in Local government, Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

NEW POLL: Is it time to end ‘politically restricted’ jobs?

By Stephen Tall | Published 18th February 2010 - 7:15 pm

Blogging Labour MP Tom Harris has an interesting story today, revealing that Tina Stowell, the BBC’s head of corporate affairs “is not only a wannabe Tory candidate, but still has a live website proclaiming her love of all things Cameron.” But Tom doesn’t point this out in order to fulminate or demand her resignation:

And you know something? I don’t have a problem with this. I would much prefer to know the politics of someone I’m dealing with because at least you know where they’re coming from. She wants to become an MP? Good for her! I hope she

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Posted in Voice polls | Also tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Opinion: My first lap dance hate mail

By Chris White | Published 18th February 2010 - 9:20 am

I got my first lap-dancing related hate mail the other day. The writer (who was not anonymous) suggested that I had nothing better to do with my time and argued that I belonged in the Stasi.

One of the hazards of politics is that you occasionally take a clear public view and someone doesn’t like it. My crime was to have issued a statement in support of the new rules on sexual encounter establishments.

Since the 2003 Licensing Act, lap-dancing clubs had been subject to the same licensing regime as pubs and restaurants – in particular, there was a presumption in …

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Posted in Local government, Op-eds | Also tagged | 15 Comments

Iain Roberts 4MP

By Iain Roberts | Published 24th November 2009 - 10:51 am

No, not my campaign to enter the hallowed halls of Westminster – much to the relief of my colleagues who undoubtably feel they get more than enough of me on the council.  Besides, I’m lucky enough to already have an excellent Lib Dem MP.

This is a new feature on the ALDC MyCouncillor blog service.

ALDC, the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors, offers a handy blogging service for all members.  It’s based on the popular WordPress platform and customised to help busy councillors and campaigners get blogging with the minimum of fuss.  Over 500 people already have an ALDC MyCouncillor …

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Posted in Local government, Online politics | Also tagged , , | 4 Comments

CommentIsLinked@LDV… John Shipley: Our record in power shows that we have vision and ambition

By The Voice | Published 23rd July 2009 - 7:00 pm

Over at The Guardian today, Councillor John Shipley, Lib Dem leader of Newcastle city council, writes a robust response to Tristram Hunt’s partial (in every sense) attack on the Lib Dems’ record in local government. Here’s an excerpt:

Tristram Hunt’s claim that the many cities and urban councils now run by Liberal Democrats lack the leadership and vision of Labour authorities such as Manchester and Glasgow is nonsense. … He fails to mention Newcastle upon Tyne at all. Lost by Labour to the Lib Dems in 2004, civic leadership flourishes here with a new £40m city library and investment in cultural

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Posted in LibLink, Local government | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

Opinion: Cameron’s vision for local government is bleak

By Alex Foster | Published 9th July 2009 - 10:25 am

Last week’s Local Government Association conference was addressed on its final day by three representatives from Westminster who’d made the journey northwards to Harrogate to face the serried ranks of senior local government councillors and officers.

The Lib Dems were represented by Vince Cable MP, given an early morning slot that not everyone got to. He was warmly received by all those who were there, in any case, which may represent that it was just the Lib Dem LGA group present. His speech covered his history as a councillor himself in the early 1970s when local government …

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Posted in Local government, Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How are Lib Dem councillors using Twitter/Facebook?

By Stephen Tall | Published 30th June 2009 - 3:00 pm

Today’s Times reports on the growth of Twitter and Facebook among councillors, noting in particular the work of one Lib Dem councillor/blogger, Daisy Benson:

Daisy Benson, a Liberal Democrat member of Reading Borough Council, used Facebook to encourage young people to take part in a scrutiny review of the standard of private rented housing in the area. “I used it because the issue we were looking at particularly affected students and young people and it’s a good way to reach them.”

Benson set up a Facebook group and listed the consultation questions. The group attracted more than 80 members. Among

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Posted in Online politics | Also tagged , , , | 5 Comments