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Category Archives: Local government

Lib Dem win in Wadebridge East by-election

By Andy Boddington | Fri 6th September 2013 - 8:10 am

There were a number of by-elections yesterday. Congratulations to Stephen Knightley won in Cornwall for the Lib Dems, though press attention is bound to be on the UKIP win in Boston on miserable turnout of less than 14%.

Cornwall Wadebridge East

Stephen Knightley (Lib Dem) was last night elected as the new Cornwall Councillor for Wadebridge East with 408 votes. It was a close fought race with Independent Tony Rush gaining just nine votes less. The by-election was called after Independent Colin Brewer stood down – he was the councillor that said that disabled children “should be put down.” The turnout was a healthy 40.47%.

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Also posted in News | Tagged by-elections | 12 Comments

Opinion: Does the central and local government relationship need rewiring?

By Gerald Vernon-Jackson | Fri 23rd August 2013 - 9:03 am

The relationship between central and local government in the UK has always been strained. The UK is one of the most centralised democracies in Europe, and as we have no written constitution local government has no automatic right to exist or do anything. Everything is dependent on the decisions of ministers.

The new Government in 2010 did good things in reversing some of the things the last right-wing, authoritarian and centralising government had done. The huge inspection and reporting regime was abolished. Ring fencing of budgets was mainly done away with. The Localism Act was brought in that gave local government the power of local competence.

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Also posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged featured and Local government | 6 Comments

Opinion: Liverpool City Region cabinet

By Pat Moloney | Mon 19th August 2013 - 2:44 pm

In February 2012, Labour controlled Liverpool City Council voted to have an elected mayor without seeking the views of the residents of Liverpool via a referendum. In May 2012, a Labour Mayor was elected.

Now there is a proposal for the six local authorities in the Liverpool City Region (Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helens, Wirral and Halton) to establish a combined city region cabinet to promote economic development, transport and employment and skills in the Liverpool City Region.

Whilst it is welcome for local authorities to co-operate, the mechanism of this proposal is hugely undemocratic and has completely bypassed locally elected councillors.

The …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged city regions and liverpool city council | 8 Comments

Know someone in local government who deserves an award?

By The Voice | Tue 30th July 2013 - 1:52 pm

The ALDE Group in the Committee of the Regions has launched the third edition of the awards for key liberal players at regional and local level. This year’s awards ceremony will be held on 4th of December in Brussels.

Both the national board of ALDE and EDP member parties as well as their local branches can submit nominations of persons that are considered to be suitable candidates for such an award, accompanied by a small motivation. Nominations need to reach the ALDE Secretariat by 30th September 2013.

There will be 2 categories of awards:

Local Leader of the Year

Regional Leader of the Year

Each …

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Also posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged awards, europe and Local government | 2 Comments

Mixed by-election results – joy in Maghull, commiserations in Kingston

By The Voice | Fri 26th July 2013 - 11:20 am

So, who says the Liberal Democrats can’t take seats off Labour in the north?

Actually, we can. In Maghull, just north of Liverpool, two wards of the town council turned from red to gold and another came within 9 tantalising votes of doing the same. Our vigorous campaign won a 20% swing from Labour.

And, it seems, those fabulous Liberal Youth people were on the case, too.

Was great to be out earlier campaigning in Maghull. We had a full committee room with average age of about 25 – lots of @liberalyouth peeps.

— James King (@jamesinoxford) July 25, 2013

Well done …

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Also posted in News | Tagged by-election results and Local government | 12 Comments

Got some spare time? Can you help out in Kingston today?

By The Voice | Thu 25th July 2013 - 12:51 pm

There’s a whole crop of by-elections today across the country. ALDC have the details here over three pages. Have a look for details of one near you and do what you can to help your local campaign.

However, there is only one Liberal Democrat defence, in Edward Davey’s Kingston constituency, so here at the Voice we are asking Liberal Democrat supporters reading this to concentrate their efforts there.

Lesley Heap is our candidate in Beverley ward. She’s a former NHS worker who’s now a swimming coach. She’s lived in the ward for 12 years. And she needs you to ring her supporters …

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Also posted in London and News | Tagged by-elections, kingston council and lesley heap | 4 Comments

++++Breaking News: Liberal Democrats gain Abingdon & Broadland seats from the Tories

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 4th July 2013 - 11:15 pm

Good news from Oxfordshire tonight. Jeanette Halliday gains the Abingdon Fitzharris ward for the Liberal Democrats with a 3.3% swing from the Conservatives.

Could this be another example of the Midas touch of Liberal Youth, who spent Sunday campaigning in the ward?

Of course the strong Oxwab team and PPC Layla Moran have put many hours of work in to achieve a magnificent result, the 8th gain from the Tories in the past year. Congratulations all round.

Update: News of a second victory reaches my ears. Steve Riley won the Aylsham ward of Broadland District Council from the Conservatives with a majority of …

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Also posted in News | Tagged Local government and oxwab | 26 Comments

What will happen to the Lib Dems in Thursday’s local elections?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 29th April 2013 - 8:25 am

There are just three campaigning days left until this Thursday’s local elections taking place across much of England.*

It’ll be tough-going for the Lib Dems…

The last time these seats were fought, in 2009, was a high water-mark for the party: we polled a national equivalent vote-share of 25%. As I said in my morning-after-the-night-before round-up here, they “were, generally, pretty damn good for the Lib Dems”.

Since entering government, the party’s become used to taking a battering in local elections. As the national polls indicate, our vote share has roughly halved since the Coalition was formed. Because we poll higher in local than national elections, this means we’re likely to secure around 15-16% of the popular vote on Thursday. If that’s the case, our number of councillors will again decline.

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Also posted in News | Tagged colin rawlings, featured, local elections 2013, Mark Pack, michael thrasher and politicalbetting.com | 26 Comments

Former Lib Dem by-election candidate Elizabeth Shenton defects to Labour

By The Voice | Sun 28th April 2013 - 11:55 am

Newcastle councillor Elizabeth Shenton, Lib Dem candidate in the 2008 Crew and Nantwich by-election, has left the party to join Labour. Local paper The Sentinel reports:

A senior Lib Dem councillor and former parliamentary candidate has defected to Labour. Elizabeth Shenton said she had left the Liberal Democrats due to the coalition Government’s ‘damaging policies’. She has now joined the ruling Labour group on Newcastle Borough Council. Mrs Shenton, below, who was the Lib Dem candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election in 2008, had been member of the party for 10 years.

Mrs Shenton, who has also served

…

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Tagged crewe and nantwich by-election, elizabeth shenton and newcastle | 26 Comments

Libby Local 15: Vile politics

By Libby Local | Mon 22nd April 2013 - 2:28 pm

Vile Tory propaganda was on my mind as I trudged up Crow Hill in a state of exhaustion. It was three on a Friday afternoon. Would I ever finish my last minute canvass for postal voters or would I collapse first?

The non-stop campaigning was just one reason I felt so tired. The vile propaganda in Tory leaflets was also getting to me.

The night before our core team met for an after-canvas drink in the Market Tavern.

The consensus was that the campaign was going well. @Demsburybess had taken charge of design, producing a clean, modern look to my Focus newsletters. It …

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Tagged Libby Local | 5 Comments

Watford’s last Conservative Councillor moves to Liberal Democrats because of Conservatives’ “right wing drift”

By NewsHound | Thu 18th April 2013 - 10:49 am

From the Watford Observer:

Watford’s Conservative party has been extinguished at borough level after the last Tory councillor has defected to the ruling Liberal Democrat group.

Steve Johnson, who had been the leader of the Conservatives onWatford Borough Council until recently, announced this morning he was crossing the floor due to the national Tory party’s “right wing drift”.

In a statement the Leggatts representative said: “I have become increasingly disappointed by the right-wing drift of Conservative party rhetoric, particularly its attitude to welfare issues. I feel my views are more in tune with the Liberal Democrat part of the coalition, in

…

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Also posted in News | Tagged dorothy thornhill, steve johnson, watford and watford observer | 9 Comments

Libby Local, Episode 13: “Brighton Secrets”

By Libby Local | Sun 17th March 2013 - 2:45 pm

My arrival at Brighton was a something of a financial shock. A huge £3.90 for a coffee in the Metropole. You can buy a coffee and a pint of beer for less than four pounds in Demsbury. A good slug of Pinot Grigio is only a few pence more!

The Liberal Democrat Spring Conference was not at all as I expected. I’m an avid conference goer in my professional life, but this conference proved totally different. Okay. I have never encountered so many bad taste yellow ties before. But what struck me most was the diverse group of people, disabled, young, …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured | 6 Comments

Eastleigh shows why the Tories and Labour should now support PR in local elections

By Stephen Tall | Sun 3rd March 2013 - 2:15 pm

If only, if only… Instead of holding out for a referendum on the Alternative Vote the Lib Dem negotiators had secured proportional representation for all local council elections instead.

Hindsight’s easy, I know. At the time of negotiating the Coalition Agreement, electoral reform at Westminster was the party’s deal-breaker. The Lib Dem vote had gone up by a million, our number of MPs down by five. The public were in favour, or so the polls said. It’s possible the party wouldn’t even have approved entering the Coalition if the Westminster voting system had been left untouched.

And yet, and yet… Proportional representation at a local council level would’ve been a far more transformational way of shifting the power dynamics in this country, of introducing genuine electoral competition into contests up and down the country. Eastleigh shows us how.

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged eastleigh by-election, electoral reform, featured and proportional representation | 27 Comments

Northern council cuts are Labour’s choice – it’s that straightforward!

By David Hennigan | Fri 18th January 2013 - 8:52 am

A New Year, same pain is the message coming from Labour Councils – mainly in the North. Looking at my old stomping ground of Levenshulme, Manchester – the cuts beggar belief. Labour’s slash and burn approach to Municipal Governance has come to the fore. Levenshulme has fought off attempts to close their swimming baths three times – now the campaigners are out in force as Labour tries again.

A letter written by the Labour Leaders of Liverpool, Sheffield and

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Also posted in News | Tagged labour and manchester council | 28 Comments

Eric Pickles’ 50 money-saving ideas show that he has no idea about local government

By Nick Barlow | Fri 21st December 2012 - 1:53 pm

Wedenesday saw the announcement of the local government funding settlement for 2013-14. As expected, councils across England will be facing even more cuts in their already-stretched budgets, and wondering just how they continue to deliver services in the face of ever-widening budget gaps. (See here or here for examples of how a funding squeeze and rising costs are impacting councils)

Of course, local government should be glad that we have a Secretary of State who understands the issues affecting the sector and is prepared to fight its cause in Whitehall while puncturing some of the myths that are propagated …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged communities and local government and eric pickles | 10 Comments

Danny, Don and Nick stand up for Local Government in a way that Pickles never has

By Gerald Vernon-Jackson | Fri 7th December 2012 - 12:51 pm

The Autumn Statement has announced no further cuts to local government in the next financial year, with a 2% cut the following year.

We’re grateful to Danny Alexander, Don Foster and Nick Clegg for stepping in and saying “no” to further cuts to local services over the next year – in a way we just haven’t seen from the DCLG Secretary of State, Eric Pickles.

Liberal Democrat Ministers have stopped an across-the-board cut of 1% to local government next year. That means up to £240m extra that will be in council budgets every year which will help fund youth services, streets, parks, …

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Also posted in News | Tagged communities and local government, Danny Alexander, don foster and nick clegg | 1 Comment

Rather better day at Black Rock… and Vale of White Horse, Brentwood, Sutton…

By The Voice | Fri 7th December 2012 - 10:43 am

We keep being told that, where we work, we can win. And it’s still true, no matter how gloomy the opinion polls are, as this week’s by-election results demonstrate.

The Liberal Democrats have gained two seats from the Conservatives in a stunning by-election win in Oxford West & Abingdon constituency. Elizabeth Miles and Val Shaw won on a 17% swing from the Tories in Sunningwell & Wootton ward, and their double victory reduced the Conservative majority on the Vale of White Horse District Council to just three.

Speaking after …

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Also posted in News | Tagged brentwood council, stephen gilbert, sutton council and vale of white horse | 12 Comments

Opinion: Tough Choices – Yes, but local politicians must grasp opportunities as well as challenges

By Shaffaq Mohammed | Tue 6th November 2012 - 11:49 am

I doubt that there are many councillors who are unaware of the scale of the country’s financial difficulties. Yet whatever your prescription for resuscitating the British economy, politicians of all parties agree that reducing the deficit is a crucial piece in the puzzle.

Regardless of your views on the Government’s strategy, it is clear that reductions in council budgets are a reality. The challenge for councillors is to best adjust to the new climate and mitigate the impact on the services that people care about most.

I do not believe that the way forward is to abandon all council services, leaving local government as a sole provider of social care. Rather, local government should be taking the lead in innovative ways of thinking – taking bold steps to cut waste, not just services.

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged economy, local councils, sheffield and sheffield council | 4 Comments

Haringey Council shows how not to provide educational vision

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th November 2012 - 1:55 pm

Having a vision for an important public service is a good thing, whether you are the sort of person who laps up visions for breakfast or the sort of person who hankers for a golden pre-jargon age when vision meant something to do with your eyes. Either way, knowing what you actually are trying to achieve overall is what saves you from drowning in detail and being blown every which way by passing events.

So the concept of a local council drafting a vision statement for education in its area is fine. The problem with Haringey Council’s attempt is the content.

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Also posted in News | Tagged haringey council | Leave a comment

Introducing Libby Local, Episode 1: “I wasn’t going to be a Lib Dem”

By Libby Local | Mon 29th October 2012 - 8:55 am

I’m Libby, I’m local – to Demsbury and Libbyshire at least – and I wasn’t going to be a Lib Dem. I guess I have to blame that on Melissa, a dyed in the wool Conservative who I occasionally drink a half-bucket of Pinot Grigio with.

I’ve always stuck my head above the parapet rather than lay low. In the last couple of years, friends have suggested I become politically active. I have been listening to local voices, voices that are mostly ignored – voices that I could help get heard. Of late, I find more

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Tagged featured | 45 Comments

Appalling failings at Haringey Mortuary

By Mark Pack | Sat 27th October 2012 - 9:35 am

The Ham & High reports:

Auditors criticised the mortuary for its haywire record keeping, after a routine visit in May revealed oversights including not properly recording the locations of bodies.

The blunders were so serious the auditor immediately ordered Haringey Council – which runs the supposedly state-of-the-art facility, opened amid much fanfare in February 2009 – to make changes, including adding body storage locations to its database…

In March this year, Lyn Garner promised Haringey had reviewed its procedures and believed it had “as robust a set of arrangements in place as possible”.

But two months later auditors visiting the mortuary found:

personal effects

…

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Also posted in News | Tagged haringey council and richard wilson | 1 Comment

A flagship borough: 25 years of a Liberal Democrat Sutton Council

By Mark Pack | Fri 5th October 2012 - 9:45 pm

Look round the room at the next Liberal Democrat event you attend and ask yourself how many people in the room will have their names recorded in places that future political historians can find. A few, certainly, especially if they have been elected to public office.

For most, however, their contribution to a political party slips away through the cracks of the historical record, disappearing as the direct personal memories people have of them fade and then end with death.

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Also posted in Books and London | Tagged featured, history, sutton council and sutton liberal democrats | 3 Comments

Haringey Council on the brink as auditors refuse to sign off accounts

By Cllr Richard Wilson | Fri 28th September 2012 - 6:48 pm

Labour-run Haringey Council is in danger of breaching the legal deadline for having its accounts signed off by its auditors after a series a multi-million pound errors were found in the accounts. Today is the last working day before the legal deadline for auditor approval of 30th September

The debacle was revealed at last night’s Corporate Committee meeting where the Labour chair of the committee described the situation as “very regrettable”. However Labour’s Cabinet Member for Finance Joe Goldberg failed to turn up – leaving council officers to face the …

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Also posted in News | Tagged haringey council and Joe Goldberg | 3 Comments

Opinion: Planning rules

By Chris White | Fri 21st September 2012 - 11:12 am

Those of you who have worked your way through the conference agenda and Conference Extra will by now have reached the emergency motions (page 28, since you ask) and will notice that there are four in the ballot: banks are awful, Julian Assange is awful, teacher qualifications are under threat and ‘what have you done with our planning system?’

I paraphrase unfairly, of course. All tastes are clearly catered for and you can make your own mind up about which to vote for if you are at conference.

The planning one (which I have something to do with) is a mild rebuke to government and unusual because ALDC, its sponsor, rarely uses its rights to propose motions. Its mild tone perhaps masks the considerable anger at grass roots level: on 6 September the Government made various announcements about relaxing planning rules, claiming that these will help kickstart the economy. In summary these are

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Also posted in Conference, News and Op-eds | Tagged aldc, housebuilders and planning | 13 Comments

Opinion: What is keeping councils awake at night?

By Chris White | Wed 4th July 2012 - 12:27 pm

The Local Government Conference met in conference in Birmingham last week.

I am slightly (only very slightly) embarrassed to confess that I have attended every conference since the LGA was created in 1997. In that first year the conference (in Manchester) ran from Tuesday until Friday. There was a gala night on the set of Coronation Street (this is apparently a television soap opera for those of you too busy each evening with your politics).

John Prescott and Gordon Brown turned up to praise the new body’s birth and the role of local government (delicious irony in hindsight), John Bird and John …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged #lgaconf, chris white, eric pickles, lga, Local government and michael gove | 5 Comments

Four councillors, four people who should be voted out

By Mark Pack | Fri 8th June 2012 - 8:25 am

Ah councillors, bless ’em:

Labour Councillor Suspended From Party For ‘Shirt Lifting Gender Bender’ Attack – Mike Harrison, Thanet, who has been suspended from a month (which, assuming he’s then let back into the Labour group, is rather different from being suspended from the party permanently).
Thanet Tory councillor suspended for Aids answerphone message – Ken Gregory, also Thanet. Must be something in the water there. His suspension is pending further investigation.
Tory councillor faces calls to quit over ‘n***** in woodpile’ comment – Gerry Forsbrey, Spelthorne.
Conservative councillor derides NHS as “Marxist” – John Butcher, Surrrey, with a nasty

…

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Also posted in News | Tagged gerry forsbrey, john butcher, ken gregory, mike harrison, spelthorne council, surrey county council and thanet council | 8 Comments

More election fraud claims – and the TV show which set up a fake polling station

By Mark Pack | Fri 11th May 2012 - 8:25 am

In the London Borough of Camden, Hat Trick productions ran into hot water after setting up a spoof but official looking polling station immediately outside a real polling station, encouraging members of the public into coming to vote before revealing to them that the polling station was part of a prank for a political satire show.

Hat Trick also sent someone out door knocking, claiming to be a Liberal Democrat activist but really setting people up for more spoofs, to be caught on a hidden camera.

One Liberal Democrat supporter was called on at home by the fake Liberal Democrat activist, who …

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Also posted in Election law and News | Tagged camden council, glasgow city council, james kirkup, khizar iqbal, Mohammed Choudhary, peterborough city council, Raja Akhtar and tower hamlets | 4 Comments

Six thoughts on the results so far (UPDATED)

By Mark Pack | Fri 4th May 2012 - 8:50 pm

An update to my earlier post, adding in the YouTube clip and reflecting a couple of other pieces of news, though still pre-London results.

For the overall picture, see my views on BBC Breakfast from the amazing new Salford studios this morning:

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged david laws, featured, jeremy hunt and leveson inquiry | 80 Comments

The local elections results open thread

By Mary Reid | Thu 3rd May 2012 - 10:05 pm

The polls have closed, so where are we?

England

Elections have been held for 128 councils. In most cases one third of the seats were being contested. Altogether 6706 seats were up for election, of which 1170 were held by Liberal Democrats.

Ten English cities have been holding referendums on whether to have a directly elected mayor. They are Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield.

Doncaster was voting on whether to abolish its directly elected mayor.

Three cities – London, Salford and Liverpool – have been electing a mayor.

London: 7 candidates, with Brian Paddick waving the Lib Dem flag.
Salford: 10 candidates, including

…

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Also posted in London, Scotland and Wales | Tagged local elections 2012, london assembly, mayoral referendum, Scotland and Wales | 35 Comments

How to vote – and what to do once you’ve voted

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd May 2012 - 6:50 am

Got an election in your area today? Here are a few key pieces of information for you.

Voting in person

Polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm today. No votes can be cast after 10pm; it’s not like the shops where being in the queue at closing time is enough.
You don’t need your polling card to vote.
You have to vote at your local polling station, which is indicated on the card. If you’ve lost your card and aren’t sure where to vote, you can contact your local council.
In some parts of the country

…

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Also posted in News | 2 Comments

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