Five Foundations of Real Localism
Article
As a political slogan, 'localism' would appear to carry weight, but as a policy construct it becomes much harder to articulate and implement. Unless measures within the Bill address each of these foundations in a meaningful and effective manner, any serious attempt to decentralise England is likely to be seriously flawed.
Those five foundations are:
- localism must be effective and efficient
- localism must be properly funded
- localism must sit at the heart of a drive for social justice
- greater devolution of power and responsibility to the local level must be accompanied by a step-change in the transparency and accountability of local decision-making
- the new drive for localism should be framed within a constitutional settlement between central and local government.
Related items
The health mandate: The voters' verdict on government intervention
The nation’s health is now a top-tier political issue.Reclaiming social mobility for the opportunity mission
Every prime minister since Thatcher has set their sights on social mobility. They have repeated some version of the refrain that your background should not hold you back and hard work should be rewarded by movement up the social and…Realising the reform dividend: A toolkit to transform the NHS
Building an NHS fit for the future is a life-or-death challenge.