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Reposted by Stuart Hoddinott

Emma Norris @emmanorris.bsky.social · 14h

Yep - and low level anti-social behaviour, fly tipping, street crime and so on persist and in some places ramp up. Completely agree that neighbourhood-level problems are a big driver of a more pervading sense of decline and dissatisfaction.

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Reposted by Stuart Hoddinott

Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 14h

Agree and would add a lack of understanding about what level of govt does what- so often the things that pop up in MPs’ inboxes are things that are in the gift of the local council and not MPs! And equally, local councils are blamed for things that are the result of funding envelopes set centrally

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 17h

I'm increasingly convinced this is a huge driver of dissatisfaction with govt

Council tax is one of the most visible taxes that people pay, it goes directly out of their bank account and they get a letter about it going up every year

Yet bin collection frequency falls and libraries close

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 20h

It is also deeply unhealthy to have local govts who don’t provide many visible/valuable services for most residents (because they lack the resources). Encourages distrust and populism - “what am I paying my council tax for? The council does nothing for me.”

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 20h

Amazed this is still going ahead - basic and obvious problem is that essentially everything local government does now is for the poor. You can’t move it around without really hurting poor people somewhere!

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Reposted by Stuart Hoddinott

Adam Payne @adampayne26.bsky.social · 1d

On Kent's council tax rise:

In June, @matildamartin.bsky.social found that some councils won by Reform spent nearly 80% of their 23-24 budget on social care & homelessness

IfG @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social said Reform faces "the same brutal trade-offs" that other councils struggled w/ "for 15yrs"

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 2d

Yep, London has a far lower proportion of adults aged 65+ which means a lot less pressure on London councils' budgets

The Fair Funding Review will be a huge financial shock to some London councils though, will lead to some very difficult financial choices over the next few years

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 2d

So after promising to cut "wasteful spending" and council tax Reform has:
- Found no waste and instead plans to cut invest-to-save schemes
- Will now raise council tax by the full 5%
- Realised they don't control asylum spending

A staggering amount of failure in 5 months

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 2d

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters on.ft.com/4pTvJ62

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters

Nigel Farage’s party promised to revive local authority finances by slashing wasteful spending

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Stuart Hoddinott

Tilda Martin @matildamartin.bsky.social · 4d

Kent (now a Reform run council) is also doing this!

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 5d

Not sure if other councils are doing this, but interesting that Lambeth is trying to increase residents' understanding of both *what* they actually spend money on and the really difficult budget choices in the next couple of years

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Reposted by Stuart Hoddinott

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 7d

People often claim it's a mistake to call far-right figures racist. But it's extremely telling how much they hate being called racist. Farage doesn't welcome it. He is afraid of it. And he has benefited from people's reticence about using it to describe his policies.

Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 7d

Harry Cole here, suggesting that because someone in Utah shot Charlie Kirk 3 weeks ago, Keir Starmer shouldn’t be nasty about Nigel Farage in the U.K.

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

I agree! But that’s a symptom of how broken the system is. The solution to that can’t just be: we’re now going to decide in Westminster how every LA spends every £ of funding

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

True. Capped at 5% p.a. increases for social care authorities without winning a referendum

Fully agree with you about purpose. LAs are forced to spend more and more on social care. Which also explains why people feel frustrated, all extra council tax goes on services few people see

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

The Pride in Place strategy wants "communities" to choose how to spend money

But local politicians already respond to what voters want

I'd argue the below chart shows councillors chose to protect bin collections and fixing potholes over libraries because that's (broadly) what voters preferred

Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

The weirdest thing is that the strategy pinpoints things like the closure of libraries and the sale of community assets as a cause of decline

But there's no analysis of why that's happened

Local authorities (LAs) have closed libraries and youth centres because funding has been so tight since 2010

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

Completely agree. It would also help if central govt trusted local leaders to know what's best and deliver it

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

Source of funding is also true. I'd be in favour of much more fiscal devolution. But a much larger proportion of LA funding comes from CT now than it did in 2010. ~50% now compared to ~33% in 2010

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

Completely agree with you about trust. I also don't think HMT trusts MHCLG, btw and therefore requires lots of assurance

Agree on the community point. You could argue that LAs *have* responded to communities by protecting waste collection and road maintenance while cutting libraries spending

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

Meanwhile the govt does nothing to address the underlying reasons for the closures of community spaces i.e. serious underfunding of local authorities

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

The result is that we get another round of small, tightly ringfenced pots of money, with civil servants trying to control how local areas spend it

That will survive until the next minister comes along at which point they want their own announcement and the cycle starts again

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

3. there is no money to properly fund LAs. And even if there was, there is a risk LAs would spend it on e.g. more social care (which is also desperately needed)

4. politicians love announcing things. £5bn for high streets? Wow! That'll get a great write up. £5bn in LAs' budgets? Crickets

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

So why are Labour doing the same thing it criticised the last govt for?

1. ministers in Westminster have identified the same issues as the last govt and want to do something about them

2. LAs are not doing what central govt wants because they have no money (they also want to do these things btw)

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

But now we're back to this sort of nonsense

I'm sure public toilets are needed. But why put up more barriers to accessing funding?

And then there's this baffling array of funds worth tiny amounts of money. All designed with good intentions, but why not just increase LAs grant funding instead!

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

Then there's the way that funding is being allocated

The last govt used small funding pots with strict rules on how LAs spend money. That's a really bad way of allocating funding - you can't direct investment from Whitehall

This govt identified that as a problem and simplified funding in 2025/26

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

It's difficult to see that changing in this parliament. By 2028/29, LAs' per person spending power will still be ~15% lower in real terms than in 2010

So LAs will be forced to continue selling community assets to cover funding gaps, while central govt tries to "protect" those assets with this money

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

Funding pressures are so bad that the last govt began allowing LAs to sell assets like libraries and youth centres to meet in-year funding pressures

Labour carried that on for 25/26, meaning that LAs could sell up to £1.3bn worth of assets, almost 3x the annual funding from the new programme

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

The weirdest thing is that the strategy pinpoints things like the closure of libraries and the sale of community assets as a cause of decline

But there's no analysis of why that's happened

Local authorities (LAs) have closed libraries and youth centres because funding has been so tight since 2010

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Stuart Hoddinott @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social · 9d

The govt published its strategy to revitalise local communities last week

There is a heavy focus on directing funding to high streets and community spaces, which is part of the reason for declining "pride in place"

But it seems misguided for a few reasons

Short thread

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Pride in Place Strategy

The Pride in Place Strategy will help build stronger communities, create thriving places and empower local people.

www.gov.uk

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