This week we celebrated with our LGiU membership and friends at our summer reception of the Local Government All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) kindly sponsored by HP.
10 years to to the day that me and @alisonseabeck organised 1st APPG #locagov with @LGiU. Good to see it going strong tonight in Parliament
— Andy Sawford (@andy_sawford) July 13, 2015
Not only was it a commemoration of 10 years of Local Government APPG, but we also had much to celebrate in terms of how far we’ve come on the road to devolution of real power to local government.
Secretary of State Greg Clark spoke to the assembled crowd about the pivotal moment of history local government is at. He talked about how hard it can sometimes be to share power and gave credit to his predecessor Eric Pickles for sweeping away the culture of targets and monitoring. Without that important ground work, it would be impossible to be where we are today. He once again encouraged councils to work together to put forward their devolution deals and the LGiU is already working with some councils.
The LGiU has been making the case for more local decision making and more power locally for a long time. The publication we launched at the summer reception: Devolution: A Road Map written by Patrick Diamond and our Chief Executive Jonathan Carr-West is the culmination of many of our arguments for more autonomy for local government. Mr Clark described at as “muscular devolution”. As well he might. We think speedy, strong devolution under clear but flexible criteria is the best way to achieve the best outcomes for local people.
As ever, we’re incredibly grateful to our APPG Chair Heather Wheeler MP, for hosting this event and for being a tireless champion for local government. We look forward to another great year of the Local Government APPG.
