Labour will devolve power over infrastructure and skills to councils if they are elected next year, shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn said yesterday.
Mr Benn gave the message while visiting a number of initiatives backed by Stevenage BC yesterday.
He said: ‘Government can play its part centrally, for example, through action on business rates.
‘We will take action to cut and then freeze rates for a range of businesses but it’s also about what we can do locally.
‘The Government’s work programme has so far has not been at all successful in finding work for the long-term unemployed.
‘The evidence around the country is where local authorities are running schemes to get the long-term unemployed back into work, they are more successful.’
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