‘Inaction’ has created ‘perfect storm’ for councils

Keir Starmer is warning that the government’s inaction during the coronavirus crisis has created the ‘perfect storm’ for local councils across the UK, risking the decimation of local services.

Speaking to the to the Local Government Association Annual Conference via Zoom, the Labour leader is expected to emphasise the ‘black hole’ of approximately £10 billion in  council finances if government fails to act.

Setting out a vision to ‘build a new relationship between national and local government’, Starmer will pledge that a Labour government would provide local government ‘a much bigger say’ over investment and services, not through plans devised by someone in an office on Whitehall, but ‘ones created and rooted in communities, so that they truly serve the people’.

He will say: “A Labour government would win power in order to hand it back to the nations, regions, cities and towns across our country. We would give local government a much bigger say over investment and services, not through plans devised by someone in an office on Whitehall, but ones created and rooted in communities, so that they truly serve the people.

“We would put local government, its power and its innovation, straight at the heart of Westminster by replacing the House of Lords with a democratic second chamber representing the nations and regions of the UK. And we would give councillors, communities and people on the front line in our public services a bigger say over the decisions that affect them. Because at the heart of the broken trust in national politics and politicians is a feeling that we aren’t listening.”