6 May 2011
Council budgets throughout England might be reopened following a change of political control at many local authorities after the elections, a think-tank has said.
Simon Parker, director of the New Local Government Network, said new councillors ‘will, quite rightly, want to go back over budget decisions taken by previous leaders’.
He added: ‘But, as difficult as dealing with the cuts is, the ultimate goal must be to come out of this period with a stable, redesigned and more efficient sector. This would be tough enough in times of perfect harmony between ministers and councillors, but if relationships deteriorate further, the task will become significantly harder.’
The Liberal Democrats suffered most in yesterday’s votes, losing hundreds of councillors. The party has lost control of former strongholds Hull and Sheffield, which went to Labour, while Stockport and Bristol were left with no overall control.
LibDem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that his party was being blamed for the spending cuts.
Labour won 800 council seats, gaining councils such as Lincoln, Bolton, Warrington and Oldham, all of which previously had no overall control.
The Conservatives fared better than expected, successfully holding councils such as Medway and Dartford.
Parker added: ‘The cocktail of coalition government and Labour gains is likely to mean that political tensions rise even further over the coming months following the first major electoral test of the coalition.’
He said that local government was in the ‘the middle of a period of upheaval’, and called for ministers to take the lead in building bridges with the new administrations.
Anna Turley, director of the new Progressive Localism think-tank and former deputy director of the NLGN, said Labour had been the primary beneficiary of the LibDems’ ‘haemorrhaging’ of support.
She added that with early indications showing that the Conservative vote has held up, the result cannot not be viewed as a voter rebuke of the government’s deficit reduction policy.
She said: ‘The result will put major pressure on the Liberal Democrats. It sees itself as a local government party and the party membership will ask what are we getting out of this coalition. They have surrendered their power base, especially in the Northern cities, of which they were immensely proud.’
The Local Government Association said that despite the gains for Labour, the Conservatives would remain the largest party in English local government. A spokesman said changes to the LGA leadership board would take place at its General Assembly in Birmingham at the end of May. Positions would then be allocated proportionately based on the representation of parties following the elections.
