09 September 2005
Former Labour minister Chris Leslie took over as the director of the New Local Government Network this week, promising to give local government a bigger say in the national policy debate.
Speaking to Public Finance on September 5, his first day in the job, Leslie said he was keen to stay in the public policy arena working on policy innovation and development.
He added that his experience of the inner workings of government was likely to prove useful.
'I'd like to make some interesting proposals that won't always be comfortable for ministers,' he added. 'And I want to come up with really hard-headed, practical suggestions that local authorities can take up.'
Leslie said more needed to be done to take the localism agenda to the next stage and suggested a good opportunity existed to give local government a more formal role in the national legislature.
He added: 'I would propose that a newly reformed House of Lords includes a strong quota of representatives indirectly selected by local councillors.'
Leslie, who narrowly lost his Shipley seat to the Conservatives at this year's general election, had been parliamentary under-secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs and, before that, junior minister at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, where he worked under Nick Raynsford.
Still only 32, he was just 24 when he won the West Yorkshire seat from Tory grandee Sir Marcus Fox back in 1997, and was for a time the youngest MP in the house.
Leslie's appointment was welcomed by NLGN chair Helen Randall. 'The NLGN board is very excited about the possibilities and pragmatic approach that Chris will bring to the organisation,' she said.
He replaces Dan Corry, who officially left the think-tank in May to work as a special adviser to Education Secretary Ruth Kelly.
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