I wondered when the Goschen assigned revenues scheme would rear its head! Salutary warnings here about the difficulty of lg finance reform

History reveals four significant political obstacles to putting councils on a sustainable financial footing. My latest piece for LGC draws my PhD research on central-local government relations. INLOGOV
lgcplus.com/finance/phil-s…

The biggest reform of local government for generations took effect 50 years ago this week.

I talked to Michael Heseltine, one of the ministers responsible, about its legacy, his regrets and how local government should change lgcplus.com/politics/gover…

Interesting to see that the 'Tories set to lose 500 seats in local elections' line from Rallings & Thrasher's LGC analysis is already becoming the benchmark for judging the election outcome.

This is from POLITICOEurope's London Playbook

Local elections gurus Rallings and Thrasher on which contests have the potential to deliver surprising or significant results, including Bristol, Thurrock, Bolton, Hyndburn, Adur and Dorset 👇

Our annual must read on #localgov elections from experts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher reveals Conservatives forecast to lose 500 seats, but which parties will gain?

My LGC briefing on why the local elections are so much more than a dry run for the general, even this year

Crisis, what crisis? Whitehall doesn't seem to understand the depth and width of the problem 🤦‍♂️
gov.uk/government/pub…
lgcplus.com/finance/sunak-…

Asked about ensuring district involvement in devo deals at #DCNconf2024 , Simon Hoare MP says ‘at some point, probably aligned with finance reform’ we’ll have to look at ‘rationalisation’ of the #localgov landscape.

He hopes he ‘wasn’t going too far off govt script’

Local govt minister ⁦Simon Hoare MP⁩ has stepped in for ⁦Michael Gove⁩ at #DCNconf2024 Says #localgov finance system needs ‘starting from scratch’

#DCNconf2024 underway with a discussion on tackling climate change - ‘We need to be challenging our residents about the impact of how you live on your children and grandchildren’ says Mid Suffolk District Council leader Andrew Mellon

Budget live blog: Councils ‘long past the point of efficiencies’ lgcplus.com/finance/budget…

Reaction from Solace Local Government Association (LGA) and many more now in the LGC live blog

Household support fund gets just a six month extension- another sticking plaster

I’m sure the lobbying for further extension will start imminently…

#Budget

Hunt saying 'there's nothing compassionate about running out of money' hits extra hard the day after Birmingham council approved their budget with cuts to many services such as youth centres and libraries...

A good piece from Sarah Calkin - and an important backdrop to our Budget meeting this morning. The crisis in #localgov funding is very real and, as I posted earlier, getting tougher every year

Funding announced 15 March 2023, first £20m allocated 4 Nov, #localgov still waiting for the remaining £40m, with 26 days to go in the financial year. And the Govt worries about #localgov productivity. 🤔 Stop bidding rounds, allocate £ by formula, much better. Just saying.

So called exceptional financial support is the logical conclusion to the extreme short-termism that has characterised successive Conservative governments since Brexit - my LGC briefing from last night

Fascinating. Since only 6/19 have issued S114 notices, suggests broken #localgov finance system is at the root of several of these. Also proof that reorganisation is not the solution to £ pressures: 2/4 unitaries from class of 2023 on the list & both the Northants councils

It's hard to overstate how serious this is.

All but 2 of the councils in question are upper tier.

Only six of the 19 have previously issued a section 114 notice. Is this an admission that the s114 system is not appropriate for the times we're in?

Reserves can only be spent once and encouraging councils to spend them in this way could perversely put more local areas on the fast-track to financial crisis

Our new funding survey covered by LGC Kirsty Weakley today