Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Tag Archives: tony travers

Caroline Pidgeon writes: Setting our cities free from the stranglehold of the Treasury

By Caroline Pidgeon | Tue 23rd July 2013 - 3:00 pm

Reforming local government finance – a phrase that is enough to send many of us to sleep. But put a different way, devolving financial powers to our great cities, allowing local innovation and genuine localism, may keep your interest for longer!

May saw the launch of an excellent policy report called Raising the capital. The report was produced by the London Finance Commission, an authoritative wide ranging group of experts from both inside and outside politics, but crucially including experts from Birmingham and Manchester. The commission was chaired by respected Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged local government finance and london | 15 Comments

Thursday’s extra bonus: the local elections

By Mark Pack | Wed 5th May 2010 - 9:20 am

Put a backbench MP and a ruling group councillor together and they’ll often tease each other about who really has the more power – with the councillor often coming off the better. “I’ll see your ministerial questions and raise you a £500m budget” and so on.

So we certainly shouldn’t forget the other elections on Thursday:

All the seats in the 32 London boroughs
One third of the seats in the 36 Mets
One third of the seats in 20 unitary authorities
Half the seats in 7 district councils
One third of the seats in 70 district councils
Four Mayors

A happy side-effect of the strong general …

Continue reading »

Posted in Local government | 6 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Liberals and the unions: time to talk again (Jack Meredith)
Andy Burnham’s NHS record: Devolution, delivery and the limits of local power (Iain Donaldson)
Huge victory for Campaign for Gigi (Tom Morrison)
Andy Burnham’s record on policing: Success story or missed opportunity? (Iain Donaldson)
Burnham: Strategic implications (Paul Reynolds)

Advert

Recent Comments

David Warren
@David Raw I don't agree with the draconian laws introduced by the Thatcher government that allow union funds to be seized and campaigned vigorously against ...
Roland
@Peter Martin - " but it does raise the question of why there is so little UK involvement in the sector." ...
David Raw
@ David Warren You write approvingly, "we also need to highlight reforms that are needed to make unions truly democratic. The Tories passed legislation in the ...
David Warren
I have been a trade union member since 1980 and for 20 years was a full time representative of the postal workers union CWU. Yes Liberals do need to relate m...
Peter Chambers
Paul, thanks for this incisive piece on the relationship between the Labour Party and the privation of state provision in the UK. I agree with much of what you ...