The day after enforcing an extension of the lockdown in Leicester, the Prime Minister announced new powers will be given to local authorities enabling then to directly manage local outbreaks. In principle, empowering councils is a step in the right direction and something local leaders have demanded for a while. In practice, however, it is hard not to read this message with caution.
Take the case of the mayor of Leicester Peter Soulsby. On 16 July he was told by the secretary of state that the city he governs will have to endure another two weeks of lockdown – going against his advice of a more localised approach with only some parts of the inner-city kept shut. As of 17 July, however, he should have gained the power to decide how to manage the outbreak locally. But, in reality, it was hard to know what the mayor could or or could not do, because while the new powers allegedly came with immediate effect, regulations were only published later on. The contradictions underpinning this message epitomise the issues local authorities across the country have had to face from the start of the crisis.The deadline for a decision to be made on the future of the Leicester lockdown is 30 July.
Considering the difficult financial situation of councils and the long delays with the provision of infection rates data, there is also a real risk that this new rhetoric of ‘empowering the local state’ could turn out to be a strategy to shift accountability and responsibility onto local government and away from Westminster.
And now we hear that Mr Hancock has bowed to pressure from local authorities demanding full access to COVID testing data. This, again, is welcome news – but it comes too late and, as many local leaders have warned, the devil will be in the details.
These examples suggest that while there are lessons to learn from the way Westminster has handled the crisis in the past months, so far central government continues to stick to a culture that shows little understanding of and trust in local government.
Rather than producing a continuous churn of grand messages with little detail, perhaps this would be the right time for central government to pause, reflect and do better.
Dr Arianna Giovannini is deputy director of the Local Governance Research Centre and associate professor/reader in local politics and public policy at De Montfort University