Recent reports that many local authorities have raided their reserves to balance their budgets for 2011/12 and, in some cases, to avoid deeper cuts than they are already making, should give deep...
The game is clear for the coalition. 'Efficiencies' and privatisation will be all the easier without the annoyance of the law and statutory instruments
It's time to face the electoral writing on the wall. The case against first-past-the-post has already been made by recent voting trends, whatever the outcome on May 5
Localism used to be something councils got excited about. Give us the financial and legal freedoms, they would say, and we'll do great things. Just like the French communes, Swiss cantons and Swedish...
Poor policies cost money, damage the economy, force people to suffer from bad public services and ultimately undermine faith in government and the political process.
Despite much local authority interest, and high-profile promises, we have yet to see the detail of the proposed TIF legislation. There are various models under consideration.
Vince Cable is in many ways the biggest disappointment of the coalition. But yesterday, in criticising David Cameron's knee-jerk approach to immigration as 'very unwise', he has redeemed himself a...
David Cameron's speech today on migration is pre-election political manoeuvring. He is on the front pages sounding tough, perhaps with the aim of distracting us from those pictures of Andrew Lansley...
With public sector redundancies announced on a daily basis,, it comes as no surprise that the latest Ipsos MORI research shows almost three in ten public sector workers are concerned about...
The process of generating savings in health budgets of the magnitude proposed will be difficult and painful but let's have a balanced discussion about how this should be done and not hysterical...
The current stalling of the government NHS reform programme, however temporary, provides a brief opportunity to re-open the debate about local government's legitimate interest and potential role in...
What happens in public sector procurement when the 'fair and open tender' meets the 'favoured supplier'? Both situations cannot co-exist at the same time. At least not without the lawyers getting...
Amidst the gently developing election 'noise' in Scotland, a little known independent commission is quietly carrying out its work on the future delivery of public services
Here's a simple question about the NHS reforms: who is going to count the beans? Bean counting gets a bad press, but as soon as someone fails to count the public sector beans properly all hell breaks...
