Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy says the way her local council in Wigan transformed its public services can inspire Labour's plans to “reimagine the state and smash up a century of centralisation”.
The Labour frontbencher told the Locality Convention in Sheffield that the 'Wigan Deal', introduced to reshape council services as austerity cuts kicked in from 2010, was "what we need at national level as well".
And setting out Labour's vision if it gets into government, she compared Britain to “a football team trying to score a goal but with only a couple of players allowed to touch the ball”, with the contribution of most people and most places "written off" because of regional inequalities. The Wigan MP, elected in 2010, said a partnership between the state and local communities was needed if the changes needed to transform left-behind areas were to become reality.
