Tag: Local Government
To increase young people’s participation in local elections, young people’s issues need to be on the agenda
Democratic Audit has suggested young people can be encouraged to participate in elections if voting procedures are changed and much better sources of information are available online. In this post Councillor Rowan Draper explores other ways to involve young people in the upcoming local elections, arguing that citizenship education should be enhanced and that politicians, […]
Tailored devolution would bring tangible benefits to cities and improve the quality of local governance
Local government boundaries very rarely correlate well with local economies, meaning that some authorities are at the mercy of political forces beyond their control. Discussing a new Centre for Cities report, Zach Wilcox argues that different local authorities can better work together by fostering formal collaborations like combined authorities, as well as through other less formal ways of […]
The government’s decision to terminate councillors’ pensions is very bad for local democracy
In last month’s budget, Chancellor George Osborne effectively scrapped pensions for local councillors, by terminating their membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme. In this post Chris Game discusses the decision and, drawing on a new report from the Council of Europe, argues that it continues a worrying trend . He suggests the move further weakens local […]
Holding European Parliament elections concurrently with local elections increases turnout and benefits certain parties
The UK will hold hold elections for the European Parliament on 22 May, alongside the local government elections also taking place in many areas. Kevin Larkin has analysed the effect of holding these types of election on the same day, and finds that it leads to a small but significant increase in voter turnout. It […]
Relieving democratic stress: Devolution and strong cities
Although devolution is no panacea to the drivers of populism, it could bring decision-making closer to people’s lives and communities, and move towards a bottom-up rather than top-down centralised state management approach, argues Alexandra Jones. Similar PostsThe territorial politics of coronavirus: is this the hour of central government?Assessing England’s metro-mayors: a mixed pictureA mess of pottage? […]
The Committee on Standards in Public Life has proven itself ineffective in safeguarding ethical standards across local government
The government had made significant changes to the way ethical standards are monitored, especially in local government. In this post, Alan Doig argues that the weakening of monitoring regimes is in part a failure of the Committee on Standards in Public Life to ensure its strategic objectives are implemented across the public sector. Similar PostsAfter […]
Has the introduction of directly elected mayors advanced or detracted from democratic innovation in English local government?
Despite very limited adoption of directly elected mayors in English local government, the reform has remained popular with national political leaders from both the Conservative and Labour parties. In this post John Fenwick and Howard Elcock consider why, and explore how elected mayors pose a challenge for several other aspects of local democracy. Similar PostsExpanding the […]
Wales should change the electoral system used to elect councillors as part of local government reforms
Local government reform is firmly on the Welsh political agenda. This presents an opportunity, suggests Roger Scully, to reform the way councillors are elected. In this post he argues that the predominant electoral system in use in Wales and in England – a form of first past the post termed Multi-Member District Plurality – should be […]
Expanding the resources and powers of Healthwatch and Overview & Scrutiny Committees would improve the local accountability of health services
Unlike many other public services, the NHS is not subject to local democratic control. In this post – a second extract from Democratic Audit’s new ebook – Sally Ruane examines the barriers to local democratic engagement in the NHS, and identifies ways to improve accountability through local authorities and Healthwatch. Similar PostsCitizens’ ability to influence NHS services is undermined by […]
Citizens’ ability to influence NHS services is undermined by the complexity and ceaseless reform of systems for patient and public representation
Unlike many other public services, the NHS is not subject to local democratic control. In this post – an extract from a new Democratic Audit ebook – Sally Ruane explores the recent history of patient and public involvement in the NHS, including the impact of the coalition government’s reforms. Similar PostsExpanding the resources and powers of Healthwatch and […]
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