Brexit
Risky business (rates)
The chaps and chapesses at the Foreign Office recently completed their annual naming and shaming of foreign delegations in serious arrears with business rates.
EXCLUSIVE: Table-top exercise to ensure resilience forums are ready
All local resilience forums (LRF) will have to carry out a table-top exercise to ensure they are ready for the reasonable worst-case scenario coronavirus could bring.
MHCLG spent £85m preparing for EU Exit
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spent a total of £85m preparing for EU Exit up to the end of January this year, says a new report today from the National Audit Office (NAO).
Budget must provide clarity on infrastructure priorities
This month’s Budget must focus on providing more detail on how the Government’s approach will support the levelling up required for the country to prosper in a carbon-conscious, post-Brexit world, says Will McWilliams.
Tackling the high street challenge head-on
The latest Local Government Association high streets leadership programme highlighted how councils are beginning to plan for a future that is no longer dominated by retail, says Matt Baker.
EXCLUSIVE: Shared prosperity fund to be linked to devolution
The new regime for doling out structural funding after the Brexit transition period will be closely linked to the Government’s devolution agenda, The MJ has learnt.
EXCLUSIVE: Chiefs network to double in size
The network of nine chief executives who represented their regions in the run-up to Brexit will be expanded, The MJ has learnt.
Any port in a storm
The ancient origins of free ports seem to be all Greek to ministers.
Ensuring a commercial hit
Heather Jameson examines the findings of a round table featuring local government lawyers hosted by The MJ and Penna.
Doing politics differently post-Brexit
Adults do not want to be treated like children to be nannied by the state, says Claire Fox – but she is not convinced that Citizens’ Assemblies are the right way forward.
DCN chairman declares 'our time has come'
District authorities will have a key role to play in the implementation of the Government’s devolution agenda, the chairman of the District Councils’ Network (DCN) has said.
Build on the social aspect of towns
Much of the discussion about ‘levelling up’ towns has been about physical infrastructure, but as Dan Corry explains, the lesson of the past is that the social side must be taken into account.
Welcome to the twenties
The new Government is rhetorically placing itself as a radical one that will move fast, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West – but he warns that for local government there is a ‘groundhog day’ element.
How important are ministers?
When you couple a high turnover of ministers with a high turnover of senior civil servants, as is also happening right now because Brexit is sucking up resources, then there’s a problem, says Michael Burton.
The first big test for Boris from the Northern Powerhouse
The real test for the new Government is how much more power it is prepared to devolve to the Midlands and the North, reducing Whitehall interference and ministerial short-termism, argues Michael Burton.
Getting districts ‘match fit’ for the global stage
The District Councils’ Network (DCN) annual conference in Warwick will provide a golden opportunity to shape our post-Brexit future, says Cllr John Fuller.
The stage is set for districts to demonstrate their key role
We hope ministers take away the message from conference next month that it is districts, backed by long-term sustainable funding, who are best placed to turn the new decade into the roaring twenties, says Cllr John Fuller.
EXCLUSIVE: Government to build on Brexit working
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) wants to capitalise on the way it has worked with the sector over Brexit, The MJ understands.
2020: Time for a new era in local and central government collaboration
Chair of Key Cities Cllr John Merry welcomes both devolution and the Government’s stated ambition to prioritise investment in infrastructure ‘as this is something that our regions are crying out for especially beyond London and the Home Counties’.
Bridging the divide
The Prime Minister’s aim of bringing the country back together is welcome, says Lord Kerslake - and dovetails with the UK 2070 Commission’s findings on the scale and direction of travel of the imbalance between North and South.