LGiU report calls for more independent local government

The Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) has warned that more independent local government with clear powers and vision is needed post Brexit.

Setting out the parameters of seven new local governing models, the LGiU report, entitled Future Local: Seven possibilities for a local government story, calls for a more solid fiscal base for local authorities.

The seven models include: sovereignty; creative destruction; a written constitution; the financial future of local government; local leadership; promoting local growth; and global participation.

Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the LGiU, said: “At LGiU, we have long argued for the benefits of localism and our new Future Local series calls for an independent local government with clear powers, clear vision and a clear role in driving prosperity and ambition locally.

“While this is a moment of crisis, it is also a moment of opportunity: a juncture at which we are confronted with an inescapable demand to rethink the nature of our body politic and to redefine the ways in which we work together. If we can only start to do that, then this is the moment at which we can, must, dare to imagine our Future Local.”

The Future Local essays were first published as an online series of interactive articles on Social Shorthand over the summer of 2016, following the referendum on UK membership of the European Union.