Letter: Sadly, Local Government Is Destined To Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Published on: 4 May, 2026
Updated on: 4 May, 2026

From Bernard Quoroll

former local authority CEO

In response to: Comment – Who Will You Vote For and Why?

An accurate assessment of the current state of affairs. The solution to this mess should be obvious to anyone who really cares about local government:

Councils large enough to be efficient yes, but also small enough to care and be democratically responsive to local needs. Local people really do know what is best for them.
A funding system in which locally decided taxes support local requirements and central government only redistributes a proportion of national income to less well-endowed communities, based on need not political advantage.
An end to a system in which central governments continue to foist polarising national political behaviours and structures onto local communities.

Doing so would release central government to focus on national priorities. It would encourage local councils to reinvigorate local economies and services rather than squabble for political advantage.

Regional imperatives (employment promotion, workforce training, cross country transport, etc) would also require a better form of central / local partnership and a more arms length relationship, than so-called devolution deals, which amount in practice to little more than the status quo and create yet another unnecessary tier of government.

Sadly, I think things are destined to continue to get worse before they get better. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas, just as national politicians do not vote to give local self-determination back to local people who are best placed to take decisions.

It is of course the ideal breeding ground in a march toward authoritarianism. These anaemic, embarrassing, one-size-fits-all elections illustrate that to perfection.