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Local and Regional Government

I speak as somebody who has been an elected member of a local authority for some 30 years, and who led one for some 17 years. On many occasions during that time, I found myself on the receiving end of changes in structure and in Government policy. I can look back during that period at a significant change to the way in which the public view local government and local government views itself. We have seen public esteem for local government and the morale of those involved in local government—particularly elected members—diminish during that period. Members of all parties will acknowledge that the link between the level of spending of individual local authorities and the level of taxes levied by them was lost in many people's minds, and that it became confused and opaque. We have discussed on other occasions the gearing effect of how things work at the moment. I shall keep my remarks brief and look back to the damage that was caused in the 1980s with the confrontation between central Government and local government—the attack on services, the erosion of powers and the way in which local government's legitimacy was undermined. I shall also look forward to the Lyons review of the structure and the purpose of local government and its function.