114 - Summaries - Local government

The country [br] [am]
The people [br] [am]
Political institutions [br] [am]
Local government [br] [am]
Internat. relations [br] [am]
The legal system [br] [am]
The economy [br] [am]
Social services [br] [am]
Education [br] [am]
The media [br] [am]
Religion [br] [am]
Leisure, sport, arts [br] [am]

Elected local government councils throughout Britain should be contrasted to that of the London-based central government, dealt with in the previous chapter, which has responsibility for the whole of the United Kingdom. This chapter is mainly concerned with the local system in England, but this system is similar to and duplicated in other parts of Britain, i.e. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Arguments about the connections between local and central government are reflected in the current debates in Britain about devolution for Scotland and Wales and potentially for the English regions. The aim of devolution was to give smaller units (i.e. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions) greater powers of individual decision-making which would reflect the interests of those geographical units. Such reforms, however, operate on a larger level than that presently occupied by local government. In effect, devolution has introduced a new, centralized layer of government between local government and the Westminster government.

The chapter starts off by describing the historical development, and need for, a system of local government. After a period of large-scale reorganization in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the current organization was established. The chapter then describes the functions and structures of local government in England.

The Attitudes to local government section at the end of the chapter informs you that British people are concerned with local government services. The degree of satisfaction, however, varies throughout the country. Some tend to think that local government is unimportant, a tendency which is reflected in low turnouts for local elections.

· the functions of local government, the services that it provides, its effectiveness and criticism of it;

· how local government is financed. Notice the difference between central government grants and locally-raised council tax.

· the relationship between local and central government, particularly the allegation that the Conservative governments in the 1980s and 1990s tended to centralize political and economic power in Westminster, with a corresponding reduction of local autonomy and local government powers;

· the distinctions between the English parish, district and county councils, and their respective functions. The Conservative government attempted to reorganize local government into so-called unitary authorities’ during the first half of the 1990s, replacing district and county councils in some areas, especially in Wales and Scotland. But the existing system of district and county councils has largely remained in England.