Tag Archives: local

David Boyle

Story telling might lead to economic revolution

By David Boyle | Wed 23rd March 2016 - 12:22 pm

It is extraordinary how compartmentalised everything is – especially when we are campaigning in local elections.

We, few of us, who know a little about the way public responsibilities are demarcated between different layers of government, have a kind of sense of corrosive superiority as we expect campaigners to demand the right reform from the right level.

But partly this is just a function of sclerotic centralisation. The Treasury has a crushing monopoly on economic policy because, well – it always has.

Partly because of that, and because there is almost no local economic data collected about where money flows (the exception is bank lending to postal district level, forced on the banks by Lib Dem peers in 2012) – Whitehall doesn’t see the economic innovations at local level.

And in particular, they don’t see the emergence of a new generation of local entrepreneurs who are no longer prepared to wait patiently for the Chinese to invest or the government to give them a grant – and are trying to transform their local economies a bite at a time.

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Ruth Bright

Opinion: You’re not from round here are you?

By Ruth Bright | Mon 4th March 2013 - 12:53 pm

Some rights reserved by ztephenWas “local”, I wonder, the most overused word in the Eastleigh by-election? Of all the terms in the Lib Dem lexicon “local” is surely our favourite.

A few years ago when the party had one of its periodic embarrassments, it looked like there would have to be a by-election in Winchester. I had a week-old baby at the time and was barely out of hospital when the phone calls started – “Why don’t you stand?”, “Hampshire bred”, “You got a great result in the next

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Posted in Op-eds | 21 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Jason Connor
    Yes thanks for the analysis. I don't think it matters too much for the winning party if their % share falls. The Lib Dems have won seats recently with % share d...
  • Matt Wardman
    This is good commentary, though I rather disagree. Trump (and his manipulators on the "America Alone" US far right in his Government have had an agenda to re...
  • paul barker
    Thanks to the Team for the new, expanded coverage, much appreciated. In five of the six contests Reform had stood before & in each case their Vote Share fe...
  • Jana
    Looks like a night that would have pleased Restore who contested all 6 seats, with a huge 27.8% in Huncoat and other results between a low of 4.4% and 11.3%. ...
  • theakes
    Embarrassing....