Tag: local government
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John Stanton: (D)evolution for Local Government
Editors’ note: This post is based upon a conference paper presented at the UKCLA conference ‘Debating the Constitution after the General Election’ held at the University of Manchester on 24 June 2015. Devolution has, as we know, been one of the central themes at this year’s General Election. One aspect of that devolution that has…
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Peter Leyland: Devolution, Greater Manchester and the Revitalisation of Local Government
The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill (CLGD) featured in the Queen’s speech and received its second reading in the House of Lords on 8 June 2015. It allows for the introduction of new forms of governance based on Mayors operating between central and local government. This initiative should not be viewed in isolation. Observers…
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Paul Kildea: Australia’s abandoned local government referendum
It is almost forgotten now, but Australians were recently set to vote in a referendum on the constitutional recognition of local government. Had it gone ahead, the referendum would have been the first since the republic poll in 1999, and potentially would have seen the first amendment to the Constitution in 36 years. But the…
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John Stanton: The General Power of Competence and Reshaping Local Public Service Provision
I wrote back in March about the way in which, despite efforts to decentralise autonomy to the local level and to inspire and empower citizens to get involved in local politics, Central Government seems reluctant to ‘let go’ and to give local authorities a free rein in relation to the exercise of local powers. New…
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John Stanton: Localism in action?
Last week the Department for Communities and Local Government reported that Eden in Cumbria had become the first area in the country to vote for the approval of a neighbourhood plan, setting out the community’s vision for local development. The right for a community to make such plans is set out in Section 116 and…
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Andrew Le Sueur: ‘Fun-loving guys’, government ‘doing anything that individuals do’ and the rule of law
In my administrative law lectures, I get students to practise an action that I explain ought to become instinctive in the minds of lawyers working for (or against) government. You extend your index finger and, in a sweeping movement, point to a law in the book in front of you, or on the library shelf,…