National and Devolved Politics

Amey looking to escape Birmingham roads contract with £200m divorce bill

19.02.19: Amey could be set to pay more than £200m to free itself from a troubled 25-year PFI contract with Birmingham City Council to repair its roads following a five-year legal battle with the authority. The outsourcing giant lost the legal...

‘Bitterly disappointed’ council votes to refer shake-up of Shropshire hospital services to health secretary

19.02.19: Councillors at an emergency meeting at Telford and Wrekin Council have decided to refer the “harmful” and “fatally flawed” plans to shake-up hospital services in Shropshire to the health secretary Matt Hancock. Clini...

‘Dishonest and corrupt’ DWP worker jailed for £40k universal credit fraud

19.02.19: A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employee who paid herself more than £40,000 in universal credit payments has pleaded guilty to fraud and been jailed for a year. Lauren Wainwright, 32, used claimants’ national insurance...

Anglesey council faces ‘biggest financial challenge to date’ in setting balanced budget amidst bankruptcy warnings

19.02.19: Anglesey County Council faces bankruptcy if it doesn’t put more money aside, its financial chief has warned as the authority announces multi-million-pound savings and a 9.5% council tax increase. The county council said it faces &ldqu...

‘Enough is enough’: Powys County Council speaks out against cuts and demands fair deal from government

18.02.19: A Welsh authority set to increase its council tax by nearly 10% has publicly spoken out about the unfair funding formula for councils, and has urged the first minister to enter talks to deliver “a fair deal.” Powys County Counci...

Plastic packaging tax and weekly food collections in plans for government overhaul of national waste system

18.02.19: The government has launched plans to overhaul the country’s waste system, with packaging producers potentially being required to cover the full cost of dealing with their waste and also facing a new tax for plastic packaging. A series...

Supreme Court to hear care workers' case in £400m Mencap sleep-in battle

18.02.19: Low-paid social care workers have won the right to appeal against a decision not to pay minimum wage to carers performing ‘sleep-in’ shifts following a ruling by the Supreme Court. The decision means social care workers will be...

Chris Painter: May's failing Brexit project

18.02.19: Chris Painter, professor emeritus at Birmingham City University, examines the reasons why prime minister Theresa May’s approach to Brexit has proved so problematic. A premiership in context There are fascinating parallels between the...

Creating powerful partnerships across the North

18.02.19: Colin Bell, business growth director at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), talks about why partnership across the North is key to achieving economic growth. Partnership is central to the work we do at the North East LEP &nda...

Council suspends contract with litter enforcement firm Kingdom after businesses complain about ‘aggressive’ fines

15.02.19: Wirral Council has temporarily suspended a contract with an enforcement firm after a raft of complaints around improper fines to businesses. The council’s cabinet member for environment Anita Leech announced she had directed that the...

County council apologises over mistaken Prince Philip death notice

15.02.19: Hampshire County Council has apologised after mistakenly publishing a notice that Prince Philip had died in what has been blamed on an “internal error.” The authority accidently published a notice about the Duke of Edinburgh&rsq...

Sutton London Borough Council permanent chief executive announced

15.02.19: The new chief executive of Sutton London Borough Council has been announced, with Helen Bailey taking up the role at the authority. Following former chief executive Niall Bolger’s departure for Hounslow Council at the end of 2018, the...

Councils ‘left on life support’ as 97% set to raise taxes and half dig into reserves

14.02.19: Around 97% of councils plan on hiking up council this year and over half plan on dipping into their reserves as under-pressure authorities increase cuts to vital services, new figures reveal. A national survey from the Local Government Info...

Sandwell Council leader steps down ‘kicking and screaming’ after lengthy council infighting

14.02.19: The leader of Sandwell Council has resigned in a move he described as being “knifed in the back” three weeks after he was suspended pending investigation by the Labour Party. Steve Eling has stood down “kicking and screami...

Powys County Council moves forward with £12m cuts and 9.5% tax increase

13.02.19: County council leaders have backed a 9.5% council tax hike in Powys as the authority passed £12m of cuts – but the council stressed that frontline services, schools, and social services have been protected. Powys County Council...