Diminished by outsourcing, impoverished by Westminster-imposed austerity, and constrained by one of the most centralised polities in the world, local government in England has endured a miserable first quarter of the 21st century.
Levelling up, the Conservative party’s response to the regional discontent exposed by the Brexit referendum, contrived to add insult to injuries already inflicted. Too often amounting to a top-down, pork barrel exercise, it required local councils to participate in Hunger Games-style competitions for Whitehall largesse. Many wasted millions of pounds on bids, only to be told that “London says no”. The various pots of money released in any case failed to compensate for the cuts to council funding from 2010 onwards.
