Category Archives: Local government

Keir Starmer to promise new powers for all of England’s towns and cities

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Exclusive: Labour leader to pledge biggest expansion of devolution since party was last in power

A new Labour government would give all towns and cities in England new powers and funding to boost local economies, deliver thousands of new homes and create high-quality jobs, Keir Starmer will announce.

In the biggest expansion of devolution since Labour was last in power, he will pledge that councils and combined authorities would get more control over housing and planning, skills, energy and transport of the kind currently held by London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester.

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Tory mayor Andy Street decides to stay in post despite Sunak scrapping HS2 leg

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West Midlands mayor says he remains committed to high-speed rail link to Manchester after suggestion he might quit over move

The Conservative mayor for the West Midlands has decided not to quit over HS2, after the prime minister confirmed he was scrapping the high-speed rail line from Birmingham to Manchester.

Andy Street had lobbied heavily to keep the northern leg of the project, and a spokesperson said on Wednesday morning he might quit if his campaign was unsuccessful.

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Rishi Sunak claims putting reducing inflation ahead of tax cuts Thatcherite and ‘deeply Conservative’ – UK politics live

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Prime minister says ‘the best tax cut we can give is to cut inflation’ after Michael Gove says taxes should be cut before general election

The BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is starting. As well as Rishi Sunak, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is also being interviewed.

Q: Do you still think we’ve had enough of experts?

Economic forecasting was invented to make astrology look respectable.

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Sunak ‘backs drivers’ with curbs on 20mph limits and bus lanes

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Low-traffic neighbourhoods and fines also face clampdown under plans condemned by active travel groups

Rishi Sunak has pledged to end “anti-car measures” as he set out a series of ideas to prioritise the needs of drivers at the likely expense of other road users such as bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians.

Outlining what he called a “long-term plan to back drivers”, the prime minister unveiled a clampdown on 20mph limits, bus lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), and the ability of councils to fine drivers who commit offences.

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Councils ‘on their knees’ as they face record £3.5bn funding shortfall

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Research finds 114 councils in England, Scotland and Wales facing budget gaps of more than £10m

Councils are facing a record cash shortfall of more than £3.5bn in the coming year with jobs and services facing cuts, according to analysis.

Data compiled by Unison, the trade union, found that there were 114 councils in England, Scotland and Wales – almost a third – facing shortfalls of more than £10m. It said 15 councils were likely to be in the red by more than £40m next year.

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Sunak expected to limit powers of councils in England to curb car use

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Exclusive: Potential plan to restrict measures such as 20mph speed limits and levying fines from traffic cameras alarms travel groups

The government is to limit measures councils can take to curb car traffic including 20mph speed restrictions and bus lanes, the Guardian understands, under plans that have alarmed travel groups and risks a row with local authorities.

In another sign Rishi Sunak hopes to gain support by prioritising the needs of motorists, other plans expected to be announced next week include limits on local authorities’ abilities to levy fines from traffic cameras and restrictions on enforcing box junction infringements.

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Data breaches putting domestic abuse victims’ lives at risk, says UK watchdog

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Councils, police and hospitals endangering women by accidentally revealing details such as addresses, says ICO

Councils, police forces and hospitals are putting women’s lives at risk by accidentally disclosing domestic abuse victims’ addresses to perpetrators, the UK’s information watchdog has said.

John Edwards, the information commissioner, who has reprimanded seven organisations in just over a year for data breaches affecting victims of abuse, said: “This is a pattern that must stop.”

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Sheffield council faces mass equal pay claim over ‘scandalous’ pay grades

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Thousands of women who have been underpaid by up to £11,000 a year set to launch claim, GMB union says

Sheffield city council is to become the latest local authority to face a mass equal pay claim from women who have been underpaid by up to £11,000 a year, the GMB union has said.

Thousands of women will launch claims against the council on Monday over a “scandalous” job evaluation scheme that discriminates against female-dominated roles, the union claimed.

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Commissioners to run Birmingham city council, Michael Gove says

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Recovery plan for country’s largest authority could include job cuts, asset sales and council tax rises

Ministers have announced commissioners will run Birmingham city council as part of a series of drastic emergency measures for the country’s largest authority, which has in effect declared itself bankrupt.

On 5 September the council issued a section 114 notice stating it did not have the resources to balance its budget because of a series of problems including a spiralling equal pay bill and IT failures.

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Labour and Tories neck and neck in byelection race for Mid Beds, poll says

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Survey reveals Labour more likely than Lib Dems to overturn Conservatives’ 25,000 majority in Nadine Dorries’s former seat

• Read more: byelection duel could gift Mid Beds to Tories

Labour and the Conservatives are neck and neck in the battle for the previously safe Tory seat of Mid Bedfordshire, according to a poll that suggests a split “progressive” vote could allow Rishi Sunak’s party to retain the constituency.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are making a full-tilt effort to win the seat from the Conservatives after the resignation of Nadine Dorries, a close ally of Boris Johnson, who eventually quit after being denied a place on the former prime minister’s resignation honours list.

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Revealed: covert deal to cut help for pupils in England with special needs

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Government contract aims to reduce the number of specialist care plans by a fifth

The government has quietly signed a contract targeting 20% cuts to the number of new education plans for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) to bring down costs, the Observer can reveal.

Then junior education minister Claire Coutinho – recently promoted to the cabinet as energy secretary– subsequently told MPs that no targets were in place.

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‘It’s going to cost billions’: UK councils face huge bills over equal pay claims

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GMB union is supporting 3,000 claims in Birmingham – and is gathering evidence from 20 other councils

Councils in the UK are facing compensation bills running into billions of pounds over equal pay claims, campaigners have warned, as they called on the government to intervene.

The GMB union is supporting more than 3,000 equal pay claims against Birmingham city council, and has disputes against councils in Coventry, Westmorland, Cumberland, Glasgow, Dundee and Fife.

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The fall of Woking: what happens after a council goes bust

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Woking declared itself bankrupt in June. Now, residents want answers as care, arts and leisure facilities face funding cuts

On a clear day, the council’s ambitious plan was for Woking’s tall buildings to be seen from the viewing levels of the Shard in London. Residents, however, view the unfinished towers with much less pride and a symbol of the Surrey town’s financial woes.

Woking borough council this week announced a sweeping package of cuts to local services, after the local authority in effect declared itself bankrupt in June, revealing a £1.2bn deficit racked up from a risky investment spree overseen by its former Conservative administration. The towers were at the centre of the problem, with cost overruns adding to vast debts.

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Councils in England in crisis as Birmingham ‘declares itself bankrupt’

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With Birmingham indicating it cannot balance its books, experts warn of others living ‘hand to mouth’

The crisis in local authorities was laid bare on Tuesday as Birmingham city council in effect declared itself bankrupt, with experts warning that others across the UK were now living “hand to mouth”.

The council’s head of finance took the dramatic decision on Tuesday to issue a section 114 notice, indicating that it did not have the resources to balance its books.

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Millions of ‘missing voters’ cost Labour seats due to electoral boundaries bias

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Analysis of official data has revealed the system for drawing constituencies is ‘warping’ democracy by omitting eligible voters

British democracy is being “warped” by an unfair system for drawing constituency boundaries that ignores millions of “missing voters” and hugely benefits the Tories, according to a new study of official data.

Analysis by the political commentator and pollster Peter Kellner shows that if constituencies were determined according to the size of their populations rather than the number of registered voters – as happens in most other advanced democracies – then the number of extra Labour seats created would cut the Tories’ Commons majority by 22.

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Government to use Ulez expansion to attack Labour over ‘war on motorists’

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Ministers hope anti-green message will impress voters, as London mayor says he is ‘a doer, not a delayer’

The government is to use the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to go on the attack over what it has called “Labour’s war on motorists”, part of a wider battle against green policies it hopes could prove popular with voters.

With the extension of the clean air scheme to every London borough beginning at midnight on Monday, Sadiq Khan, the capital’s Labour mayor, said that while the decision was difficult, the devastating health effects of toxic exhausts trumped other considerations.

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English councils moving homeless families out of areas at almost three times official rate

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Exclusive: Data shows more than 34,000 households placed out of area last year, with some moved more than 200 miles away

Councils are moving homeless families out of their neighbourhoods at almost three times the rate that has been officially recognised, and some have been uprooted hundreds of miles from their support networks, according to research.

Data released under freedom of information (FoI) revealed that 34,418 households were placed out of area last year, based on responses from 80% of English councils. This incomplete figure suggests a total 172% above what was officially recorded for the previous year.

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Sexual harassment allegations cost local authorities at least £2.5m

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Exclusive: Data from past five years in England and Wales includes wage costs and victim payments for claims such as upskirting, indecent exposure and inappropriate videos

Local authorities in England and Wales have spent at least £2.5m in the past five years on costs relating to allegations of sexual harassment, an investigation by the Observer can reveal today.

Data obtained through freedom of information (FoI) laws shows that since 2018, 62 councils spent more than £1,728,900 to cover wage costs of staff who were suspended after allegations of sexual harassment, with accusations ranging from indecent exposure, upskirting, inappropriate comments and sexual assault to stalking and abuse of power.

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Lionesses’ semi-final watched by 7.3m – but few viewing events for final

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Councils accused of downplaying women’s football compared with men’s, with scarcity of planned public viewing parties

The Lionesses drew an average of 4.6 million viewers during their World Cup semi-final, yet fans are disappointed that councils have failed to respond to the team’s success by putting on free public viewing parties for the final.

The BBC said a peak audience of 7.3 million tuned in to watch England beat Australia 3-1 on Wednesday, despite the time zone difference resulting in an 11am kick-off time.

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Bailiffs making record profits collecting debt for councils in cost of living crisis

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Charities call for an end to the outsourcing of public debt as firms’ turnover rises nearly 50% in a year

Bailiffs hired by councils to recover unpaid debts have seen their profits rise to record levels during the cost of living crisis, company filings show.

Newlyn Group, which is hired by councils to recover unpaid traffic fines and council tax, saw its turnover from debt collection increase by 43.8% to £25.8m in the year to December 2022, while its gross profit rose to £15.5m. Company documents describe the figures as Newlyn’s “best ever results”.

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