Future Local Lab
Local Government ExplainedAPPG on Local Government – Summer Reception 2026
On Tuesday 14th July, the APPG on Local Government introduced the findings from its major inquiry on fiscal devolution at the annual APPG local government summer reception. The LGIU provides the secretariat for the Group and it was a pleasure to welcome so many MPs, Peers, council leaders, chief executives and senior stakeholders from across the sector to the House of Commons Terrace.
The APPG’s inquiry couldn’t have come at a more timely moment and the LGIU is incredibly proud to have worked with it on this research. Chair of the APPG, Clive Betts MP’s opening remarks struck an optimistic note as he told the assembled crowd, “It looks now [that] we have a real possibility of wider devolution and we should be discussing not whether we should do it but how we should do it…the report we have produced with the help of the LGIU looks at how we can set out a genuine way forward for all councils, not just a few strategic mayoral authorities.”
We were delighted that Alison McGovern MP, Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution in the United Kingdom could be there and she thanked the LGIU for its work, describing it as a “mighty organisation full of knowledge and good sense”. The Minister made it clear that “it can’t just be in public services where local authorities lead, it also has to be on the economy…to me the politics of place is about making sure that local authorities can lead on the growth that their economies need.”
In a week that promises to be all change again at the top of government, this new report sets out a series of pragmatic, achievable steps to deliver an ambitious fiscal devolution programme within a relatively short timeframe. The title of the report – No Government Can Deliver Long-term Growth Without Ambitious Fiscal Devolution – gets to the heart of why fiscal devolution matters. As LGIU chair, Cllr Abdul Jabbar MBE, said, “We all need this – central government, local government, and most importantly, communities and residents need us to get this absolutely right.”
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