This article was first published by TotalPolitics.

It’s fair to say that the parliamentary passage of the Localism Bill, which had its second reading in the Lords yesterday, has not generated great deal of excitement in the press or amongst the public at large. The most eye-catching issue to emerge yesterday was the government’s climbdown on plans to transform council leaders into “shadow mayors” ahead of referendums on elected mayors. This plan suffered from the triple whammy of seeming undemocratic, having little clear benefit and being of slight interest to anyone outside a small circle of policy wonks and local government geeks. One suspects its passing will be unlamented.