I hope colleagues across local government had a good Christmas and I am sure everyone is back into the swing of things as we enter 2025.
Last month, we finally had the publication of the Government’s English Devolution White Paper.
The position of Conservatives in local government is a simple one. We do not believe that local government reorganisation should be forced upon areas without a local consensus.
There cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach to reorganisation, and Conservatives will only back changes in areas where we can see a strong local consensus.
If we want to reorganise local government, it needs to be about the best-value benefits it can bring to communities, while delivering better with new technology, involving all our partners across the sector.
As Conservatives, we believe in best value when it comes public services, and we must ensure we constantly look at how these are delivered to residents.
Local government reorganisation is an opportunity, but we must only support such moves where it has a strong evidence base, and all partners and the public are involved.
Transferring powers from Whitehall to local areas is a must to ensure residents have a greater say in how their areas are run, therefore devolution is critical.