The three party conferences inevitably concentrate on the major national issues, particularly the economy, and the media focuses (too much?) on personalities and leaders. Local government does not feature much in the main speeches, but there is much discussion of local democracy and localism in the fringes.

The announcements most relevant to local government that made the headlines (and were trailed heavily before they were made) were the extended freeze on council tax and the additional money to encourage weekly bin collections. More details are set out here. There seemed to be little or no serious discussion about the role of local government by senior politicians in their speeches.