From our Chair: Electoral reform

While the rest of the country went to the polls in regional and local elections, London contented itself with participating in the referendum on the voting system for Westminster. One of the key arguments deployed by the Yes campaign over the last couple of months was that the Alternative Vote system would help to mend politics, increasing democratic accountability and shake up the old system.

It's not for London Councils to hold a view one way or the other about the merits of electoral reform, but the referendum result (despite several London boroughs voting yes) suggests that a change to the voting is off the table for the foreseeable future. If the advocates of the new politics are looking for another issue to throw their weight behind, they could do a lot worse that join London Councils in lobbying for more power and resources for local government.

Genuinely empowered local authorities have the ability in turn to empower people, by involving them in decision-making about their local areas and by being directly accountable to them. Given more freedom, local councils can also make a real, practical difference to people’s lives, making their localities great places to live, protecting the vulnerable and promoting economic growth in more imaginative ways. It is in that spirit that London Councils has recently lobbied Government to remove some of the more excessive burdens that statutory duties and regulation have placed on our work. We are also working with the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee to see how Parliament could place the role of local government on a constitutional footing through a written codification of its status.

Work also continues on ambitious proposals to the Local Government Resource Review that could see local authorities given much more financial independence. London Councils officers have developed a model that could empower and incentivise councils to drive economic growth, whilst remain fair to and meeting the needs of all local authorities across England. In the coming months this will be the key issue for the future of local government in this country, and London Councils will be at the forefront of that debate.