The role of local government in the journey to net zero
Local government
A new progressive economy is being built locally
This article originally appeared in the New Statesman.
The disastrous Spring Statement demonstrated that the Treasury is still tied to its old ways, but an alternative economic strategy is emerging in regional and local authorities all over the UK
As energy, food and fuel prices continue to soar, there is mounting pressure on the Chancellor to go further than he did in the much-maligned Spring Statement to ease the increasing burdens on consumers. The Treasury’s paltry measures to relieve the biggest squeeze on household incomes in decades were met with consternation from Rishi Sunak’s critics, as substantive interventions such as a windfall tax on oil and gas firms were notably missing from his mini budget.
Levelling up paper falls way short of what is needed
This article originally appeared in Infrastructure Intelligence.
As an organisation with a keen interest in and focus on improving the health and vitality of local economies, the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) has much to say about the government’s levelling up white paper. Crucially, we believe that the document falls far short of the six tests we set ahead of its release.
Firstly, on its purpose. Levelling up is, at long last, evolving from a catchy electoral slogan and we now have an emerging basket of indicators for success. But it’s not yet clear how these national ambitions will translate into local delivery which supports opportunities for everyone. There is nothing in the indicators about addressing wealth inequality or poverty, for example.
To make the change, be the change
To mark International Women’s Day 2021, CLES researcher Eleanor Radcliffe shares her thoughts on the lot of women in the time of Covid-19, representation in local government and the seeds of hope to be found in new approaches.
A lot has changed since International Women’s Day 2020, but sadly not much for the better. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and deepened the inequalities already present within our economy, disproportionately impacting women. Worse yet, not everyone has fared equally. The poorest, disabled, lone parents, young, and black and minority ethnic women have been particularly negatively affected. The impact for working mothers has been significant, with the realities of home working compounded by the challenges of home school and providing more unpaid care. Mothers have spent two-thirds more time on childcare than fathers, and those on the lowest incomes are nine times more at risk of losing jobs due to school closures. Our society is reversing progress on the emancipation of women and non-binary people, and to make the change we need in these areas, we need to be the change.
“the budget did little to truly tackle the systemic inequalities which affect women”
The government’s spring budget was an opportunity to begin to address the disproportionate impact on women as a result of the pandemic. However, as the Women’s Budget Group have examined in depth, the budget did little to truly tackle the systemic inequalities which affect women. These include the questions of:
Digging Deep for Change
This piece originally appeared in the Municipal Journal.
We are optimists in local government. But that optimism is being stretched to breaking point: by this pandemic, by ongoing public service austerity, rising demand, insecure finances and stalled devolution. As the context worsens and our early hopes of ‘building back better’ dim, we’re going to have to dig deep.
In April, CLES – the national organisation for local economies – argued that we faced a moment of historic importance. Our argument then, as it is now, was that this pandemic will require unprecedented action to safeguard the wellbeing of millions, but that it also represents an unprecedented opportunity to drive a huge transformation and build a greener and fairer society. Yet, as the months have passed, these big changes have not materialised. If we are to live up to the necessity and opportunity that COVID-19 has afforded us, there are three key things we are going to have to confront.
Time for local economic development to muscle up
This article originally appeared in the Local Government Chronicle
For some in the local economic development community there is talk of a post crisis “bounce back” – reflective of an idea that the economy is on a purely temporary freeze, but will eventually thaw, and whilst an unprecedented situation, we will get back to something akin to “normal”. While this may be comforting for some, it is fanciful. Instead, we are going to need a massive reset to our local economic development thinking and practice.
We are experiencing irreversible structural and societal change. Our local economies are collapsing; we were trundling along with stagnant growth even before Covid-19 arrived and now a growing recession with unprecedented levels of business failure and unemployment is heading down the tracks. The economic and social geography of the crisis is emerging, and where before we may have had to battle local economic sluggishness and poverty, we will now be fighting dereliction and destitution.
Recovery is a fork in the road
This article originally appeared in the The MJ
Over the last month we have seen local government accomplish things which just weeks before would have seemed the stuff of fantasy: a huge redeployment of staff and the repurposing of buildings, fleet and supply chains to supply critical goods and services; and the creation of new welfare, employment and business advice services to name but two.
We need a generous state forever
For years we have been told that expansive government intervention is not a feasible or desirable solution to our major social, economic and environmental ills.
Yet, the unprecedented government intervention of the last three weeks has turned decades of orthodoxy on its head. The state, maligned for years by successive governments, is back. In this, it has re-assumed its fundamental purpose: to insure us against a life that is, as in Hobbes’ Leviathan, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
An end to austerity? Not for local government.
This article originally appeared in the Local Government Chronicle
The budget has found the money tree, but not for local economies, local public services or the climate.
We need to look at where the money goes and who has power over it. Big finance, large infrastructure companies and the existing wealth winners all win again. Just and green local economies for all remain as distant as ever.
Wider economic austerity has been abandoned – but let’s be clear, local government public service austerity remains, and so do the systemic economic issues bedevilling great swathes of this land.
Climate emergency requires local economic restructuring
This article originally appeared in the Local Government Chronicle
The community wealth movement has four key actions that will help councils meet the challenge of climate change – ‘greening’ existing practice is insufficient.
Around 70% of all councils across the UK have now declared a climate emergency, with ambitious carbon reduction targets. While acknowledgment of the crisis is an important first step, the pressing need is to now make these declarations meaningful in terms of radical action and progressive practice.
Things will not get better: We need radical action on adult care and children’s services
This article originally appeared in The Municipal Journal.
“Given the longevity and the often fruitless talk about these crises, the time has come to accept that we now have a massive state crisis, which is grounded in inaction.”
Talk of our local public services being in crisis is now sadly an embedded part of our local government conversation. Exacerbated by nearly 10 years of austerity, the fact that rising social need is and will not be met by adequate provision is now the condition of many services including adult care and children’s. Given the longevity and the often fruitless talk about these crises, the time has come to accept that we now have a massive state crisis, which is grounded in inaction.
