14/01/2022

The chief executive officer of Sheffield City Council has apologised for having her Whitehall leaving do while coronavirus restrictions were in place.

07/12/2021

A new report today warns areas reluctant to accept directly-elected leaders in the next wave of devolution deals may be offered ‘fewer powers and flexibilities’.

30/11/2021

Former shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has been named the new shadow levelling up secretary in Sir Keir Starmer’s latest reshuffle.

11/11/2021

Proposals coming out of the Government’s review of special educational needs and disability (SEND) will look to reduce ‘local variation,’ children and families minister Will Quince has suggested.

08/11/2021

Council and combined authority leaders have detailed plans for a ‘just transition’ to net-zero as new research revealed nine million people could be hit economically.

26/10/2021

Mismanagement and a dysfunctional culture contributed to Slough Council’s financial meltdown, two Government-ordered reviews have concluded.

15/09/2021

Robert Jenrick has been removed from the role of secretary of state for housing, communities and local government in the Cabinet reshuffle.

17/08/2021

County areas are lining up to strike one of the first tranche of devolution deals.

22/07/2021

North Yorkshire and Somerset County Councils have been given the go ahead to become single unitary councils, while Cumbria will be carved in two.

15/07/2021

Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for local leaders to take their devolution plans to him in a keynote speech from the West Midlands this morning.

07/07/2021

Shadow communities secretary Steve Reed has accused the Government of dropping its commitment to devolution.

11/05/2021

Voter ID is expected to be introduced by May 2023 after the Government pledged to introduce legislation to ‘ensure the integrity of elections’.

04/05/2021

A levelling up White Paper will replace the long-awaited policy document on devolution and local recovery.

27/04/2021

The Hammersmith & Fulham LBC director at the centre of an unfair dismissal claim had been working in a ‘truly toxic atmosphere,’ an employment tribunal has heard.

14/04/2021

Staff in English care homes with older adults may be required to have a COVID-19 vaccine in a bid to tackle hesitancy within the sector.

01/03/2021

The Government needs to implement strict measures in May’s local elections to keep staff safe, trade union Unison urged today.

05/02/2021

The Government has officially confirmed local elections will go ahead on May 6.

27/01/2021

Scottish local authorities have called for the costs of COVID-19 to be met by the Government north of the border.

21/12/2020

Leader Sir Keir Starmer said it will look at transferring more powers from Westminster to local leaders.

17/12/2020

Liverpool City Council will undergo an inspection of whether it is complying with its best value duty after the arrest of its mayor.

17/12/2020

Local government secretary Robert Jenrick today used the provisional finance settlement for 2021/22 to confirm the allocations for £1.55bn funding.

25/11/2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a three-year £2.9bn ‘restart programme’ to help more than one million people unemployed for more than a year find work.

10/11/2020

Crisis-hit Croydon LBC has issued a Section 114 notice after extra spending controls proved not to be enough.

27/10/2020

Northern Tory MPs led by the former Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry have urged their government to kickstart its promised ‘levelling up’ agenda with a Northern Economic Recovery Plan.

15/10/2020

The £95,000 cap on public sector exit payments was signed into law last night and will come into force on November 4.

28/09/2020

The Lib Dems have used their autumn conference to warn that the Government’s planning proposals will ‘disempower’ councils.

22/09/2020

Government failure to protect care homes during the pandemic is a ‘national scandal’, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told his party’s virtual conference today.

03/09/2020

The leader of a scandal-hit council compared to North Korea has been deposed after a vote of no confidence at a fiery meeting.

17/08/2020

Ministers have been accused of making Public Health England (PHE) a scapegoat by scrapping the body for alleged failures in the testing and tracing of coronavirus.

03/07/2020

Councils have called for the Government to go further after it finally started to publish more coronavirus testing data.

01/07/2020

MPs have refused to accept the Prime Minister’s attempts to close down questions over Robert Jenrick’s decision on the Westferry Printworks planning application.

27/05/2020

Council powers over calling a local lockdown are still to be thrashed out as the NHS’ test and trace system is formally launched.

26/05/2020

A cross-party agreement that the Local Government Association (LGA) would lobby for a coronavirus payment to staff was ditched after senior councillors blocked the move, The MJ can reveal.

06/04/2020

Former Lambeth LBC leader Steve Reed has become the new shadow communities and local government secretary replacing Andrew Gwynne.

19/12/2019

The second Queen’s Speech in almost as many months has promised an ‘ambitious programme of domestic reform’.

17/12/2019

Shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne has called on ministers to publish the provisional finance settlement immediately amid silence on its timing from Whitehall.

13/12/2019

Local government was this morning expecting a devolution revolution after Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a sweeping election win.

28/11/2019

The Liberal Democrats have set out a raft of plans to end rough sleeping if they won the General Election.

19/11/2019

Hammersmith and Fulham LBC is to take back ownership of two housing estates 12 years after they were sold off by a previous administration.

30/09/2019

A new White Paper to more powers to local areas was announced in the Chancellor’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester today.

14/08/2019

‘Indicative numbers’ for the amount councils will receive in 2020/21 will not be published before next month’s Spending Review, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has admitted after it missed a self-imposed deadline.

10/06/2019

The leader and former chief executive of a district council have both received awards in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

05/06/2019

Shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne has called for Northamptonshire CC leader, Matt Golby, to quit after ‘repeated failures’ in the council’s children’s services.

05/06/2019

The National Audit Office (NAO) is gearing up to scrutinise the Government’s divisive fair funding review, The MJ can reveal.

03/05/2019

The two main political parties have made big loses in the local elections, with the Liberal Democrats and independents looking like the real winners of the night.

11/02/2019

Labour would create a new commission that would allow councillors to influence every decision that affects local authorities if they won a General Election.

31/01/2019

Chief executives have told communities secretary James Brokenshire Whitehall needs to be more joined up between departments and in its communications with councils over Brexit.

10/01/2019

Ministers have played down the prospect of a widespread crackdown on councils that borrow for commercial reasons.

08/01/2019

Corby BC has called for the creation of new unitary authorities to be pushed back, claiming there is not enough time to reorganise Northamptonshire’s public services.

12/11/2018

Labour has called for all areas to receive greater Government backing after Whitehall shifted the focus of its housing cash.

31/10/2018

Senior councillors have been warned not to talk about a secret Local Government Association (LGA) report that models what fiscal devolution might look like, The MJ has been told.

24/10/2018

Welsh local authorities have called on the First Minister to consider sacking his colleague in charge of councils after he labelled councillors ‘Oliver Twists’.

24/10/2018

Senior Marsham Street officials have stepped up their preparations for Brexit after complaints from frustrated councils that they were being shut out of the process.

10/10/2018

Liverpool City Council’s corporate peer review was significantly watered down before publication after pressure from the authority, The MJ has learned.

14/08/2018

The Government has launched a programme aimed at teaching young people about politics and promoting participation in the political system.

15/05/2018

The tight timeframe for reorganising local government across Northamptonshire claimed its first victim this week despite ministers’ decision to extend the consultation period.

09/05/2018

New local government secretary James Brokenshire has today announced the two commissioners appointed to help rescue troubled Northamptonshire CC.

02/05/2018

New secretary of state James Brokenshire has declared himself to be ‘a real fan of local government’ and vowed to take a ‘hands on’ approach to his relationship with the sector.

19/04/2018

Labour would scrap right to buy, and give councils new borrowing freedoms and central funding in a bid to kick-start house building, the party said today.

20/03/2018

Council tax is ‘outdated and regressive’, and the Government should consider scrapping it in favour of a fairer system, according to a think tank.

16/03/2018

Sir Robin Wales has been deselected as the Mayoral candidate for Newham LBC.

20/02/2018

Key Whitehall departments involved in attempt to bury changes to provisional finance settlement data.

29/01/2018

Labour MPs have urged ministers to provide ‘strategic vision’ for local government.

26/01/2018

More than 100 council leaders and councillors from the south-east and east of England will today meet London mayor Sadiq Khan to kick-start joint plans.

09/11/2017

The chair of London Councils and leader of Haringey LBC has fought off a challenge from Labour activists to keep her council seat.