The Labour Deputy Prime Minister yesterday (16 December 2024) released the Labour Government’s plans to force all local councils to merge into larger authorities.
Cllr Kris Wilson, Leader of the Opposition (Whitestone), said:
Labour’s plans ride a coach and horses through the idea that local government should be local. It should be for local people to decide whether they want to change how their council’s work and not be imposed by a Whitehall diktat.
Under the proposals released by the Government yesterday, ministers have set out that they expect local councils’ to be merged into new councils’ that have at least 500,000 residents and where local areas refuse to do so they will step in and force it to happen.
Cllr Wilson continued:
Setting an arbitrary figure of 500,000 people as somehow local is clearly absurd. In my experience, local communities want councils to serve their local area. There is a real danger that unless plans are made with the local community it will take democracy further away from the voter.
In just 6 months of a Labour Government, the trend against local democracy is clear. First, they imposed central housing targets without regard to the local area. Then they have just announced that they will get rid of local planning committees for some planning applications, removing the ability of local councillors and residents to stand up for their area. Now, they plan to force massive councils on local areas without any local consultation.
In December 2023, the then-Conservative Council at Nuneaton and Bedworth voted to support the principle that there should be no local government re-organisation for Warwickshire without local consultation. The Conservative and Labour Councillors all voted for this proposal.
Cllr Wilson concluded:
Labour joined with us last Christmas in giving a clear message that it should be for local people to decide on what their local council looks like. The question now is – will Labour locally now back their residents in Nuneaton or Bedworth, or will they be the turkeys that vote for Christmas and support their Labour paymasters instead?
