I have several such Things, some of which have been faffed now for over a year

I have a tiny car and it’s amazing what you can get in there. 32in no probs

Which is hard when your organisation is broken and very hard (I would argue impossible) to do remotely from London

Right yes exactly. So that leadership has to come from somewhere

Footnote: the point is not Labour losing councils. But the current context is growing volatility, lack of incoming cllr experience, increasing reliance on a diminished officer corps, cities potentially tipping into no overall control so you lose strategic direction, in fighting. As well as no £

Anyway: all that turbulence being baked into local authorities? It matters. And it does connect back to growth.

Combined authorities are in many cases brand new. The newer ones ain’t going to fix your growth problem overnight (and are also stealing officials from local govt, so arguably adding to that particular problem)

This thread has gone off on a tangent hut brings to mind the appt of Tom Riordan as HMT’s northern advisor. Good, in that someone in there is trying to pull strands together across a geography (the mayors aren’t), alongside £ work by eg the OFI. But local govt remains a huge weakness in that space.

You then have people in No 10 wondering why it’s hard to lever in private £ into areas where it isn’t already motoring.

One reason is all of the above: investors want stability and investable propositions. Local government is focused on staying alive and in some cases not even managing that

It’s remarkable, really, that there haven’t been more catastrophes (bar the ongoing ones). But then again there’s plenty more to fall over yet

Meanwhile the officer corps - upon whom inexperienced politicians heavily rely to make budget decisions, for eg - is depleted, with low morale and increasing difficulty recruiting to the top statutory positions that carry the can for financial/legal failure (why do that when you can be an interim)

The level of instability in politics at local level is growing and will get worse at exactly the time when finances are crumbling away

It’s great, stay there

Nice being on holiday in your own city, you look at it differently

Ngl I really enjoyed it

🤣

No no see above. Took two days for me to register oh right this is why I feel shit

Stephen did not force me to write about Reform while ill, incidentally. It’s been a gradual process of “oh, right, that’s what this is” even though it’s about the 19th time I’ve had it now

Hs2 will be built. And when it is, it will reach Birmingham. Which is in the doldrums currently, but it doesn’t always have to be that way, have a modicum of imagination