Still some way to go on really devolving to cities
I welcome Ed Miliband’s announcement today. After years of painful funding cuts (still going on) we could be forgiven for thinking that Westminster politics thought the recession was a problem caused...
View ArticleWinning the ‘race to the top’
Falling living standards are partly about the price of essentials, like electricity, gas and public transport rising faster than inflation. It is also about wages rising too slowly, and too many people...
View ArticleLabour must decide on civil service reform
This week’s dramatic reshuffle has inevitably focused on the ups and downs of Conservative careers – the surprise departure of William Hague and the shock demotion of Michael Gove, alongside a clutch...
View ArticleEnsuring the next Labour government delivers
Michael Dugher’s speech to the Institute for Government this week was a historic moment. Never before has a Labour shadow civil service minister set out from opposition such a clear analysis of the...
View ArticleFifty years on: What next for Wales?
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of a secretary of state for Wales. I am Welsh. I was born, raised and educated in Wales and my first job after university was working for a...
View ArticleThe politics of empowerment and ‘let it go’
This week, Labour’s progressives convened in parliament, to discuss an emerging political agenda that is rising on the horizon – the politics of empowerment and ‘let it go’. ‘Let it Go: Power to the...
View ArticleA community approach to public service reform
Over the last year, the concepts of localism and devolution have grown to become increasingly important in the lexicon of the political class. This, in the main, is in response to communities...
View ArticleLetting it go: power in public service
This week’s event hosted by Progress and chaired by Jon Cruddas fielded an impressive array of speakers including Liz Kendall, shadow minister for care, Steve Reed and Lisa Nandy as well from within...
View ArticleWestminster Diary: A Reluctant Minister Under Tony Blair
I had not known that Bernard Donoughue was a junior minister in the opening period of Tony Blair’s premiership. The affable peer will always be best known for the part he played in the turbulent Wilson...
View ArticleDevolution equals investment
Regional inequality costs lives – devolution is the only way to change this, argues Claire Dove The United Kingdom suffers from unparalleled regional inequalities. The inequality between our regions is...
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