Mark Sandford

I realised today that this is starting to give me Northern Ireland vibes...

Surely this will be affected by permission for exceptional financial support, to some extent at least?

Helping mayors map a path to better places The Government's English devolution agenda is introducing many new responsibilities and ways of working. Mayors will be required to publish a local growth plan,...

I have a piece in the Municipal Journal on using economic valuations to make the case for, and choose between, policy options www.themj.co.uk/helping-mayo...

West Midlands urged to strengthen leadership and secure finances West Midlands Combined Authority has been urged to bolster its leadership and long-term finances. A peer review by the Local Government Association said filling...

WMCA peer review advocates sources of funding that are not taxes or grants: www.themj.co.uk/west-midland... There is a related, unexplored question about whether commercial / investment proceeds helped get English mayors off the ground! See Manchester Airport and various road tunnel tolls.

Loved this sentence "local government is too often the Untermensch of political science, despite its importance to voters". It has not always been so: this is a recent and very regrettable change. Shameless plug to my piece on this subject: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Breaking: UK government is confirming it’s dropped plans to delay local elections at 30 English councils

Agreed - I am surprised this size of new commitment hasn't had more attention. The settlement also commits to doing something unspecified for 26-28. A similar commitment for those years would require a further similar-sized chunk of money.

The first song on this clip appeared on Enya's album Shepherd Moons in 1991

Nearly 70 English councils say they face insolvency over special needs education debt Plea illustrates dilemma facing government as it attempts to overhaul increasingly expensive system

I have thought for some time that SEND overspends will be the factor that really kills local government financially www.ft.com/content/ab85... A situation where there's not likely to be much choice other than for the Govt to find the money

On time, On Budget - and Fast — Freewheeling The secret to getting things done quickly and cheaply lies in how organisations are run. I know - I've been part of a team that's done it.

This is absolutely right. It's actually just about leadership, period. I wrote this blog post about a project I was actually involved in that achieved its objectives, on time and on budget. Despite green belt, badgers, bats, NIMBYS, a public enquiry and everything else the system could throw at it.

Build the rail! Save the snails! — Labour Together Why does British infrastructure cost so much? This paper, by economist Dan Davies, argues that Britain’s adversarial planning system forces developers to gold-plate solutions to hypothetical problems....

Recommend this www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/... I particularly liked the sentence "As a common law country, our natural default is to make decisions by adversarial process between interested parties". Influence of the constitutional water we swim in on practical matters is rarely acknowledged

Ministerial statement expected on "business rates" today. Conceivable that this may relate to issues around pubs and revaluation, though no further details currently. Watch this space - around 1pm #businessrates #pubs

Exclusive: Kent looks to introduce foreign lorry levy Kent CC is exploring how to introduce a levy on foreign lorries and freight traffic entering the county.  Council leader Linden Kemkaran (Ref) told LGC:

Wondering about the mechanism to actually implement this: www.lgcplus.com/politics/dev... Could be a Venice-style entry tax: or a road pricing scheme, but one that includes motorways and only covers non-UK vehicles?? Not sure either is legally possible right now.

The Government has announced that elections scheduled for May 2026 will be postponed in 29 councils. Five of these have already been postponed for 12 months, having been originally scheduled for 2025: Thurrock, Norfolk, Suffolk, East Sussex and West Sussex. #localgov #reorganisation

New development: How could incentive-based sources of finance fund English local government effectively? The UK government’s Fair Funding Review will introduce major changes to the allocation of local government funding from 2026. Government policy statements indicate that scope still remains for adju...

How could business rates be improved so as to provide solid funding and encourage growth? Some ideas from me and @muldoonsmith.bsky.social url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/J-b9CVA3BF...

What is happening to business rates on pubs? Some pubs may have to pay significantly higher business rates from April 2026. This follows business rates revaluation and the removal of covid-era relief.

With the government reportedly about to provide additional support for pubs on business rates - what would this mean and how would it work? See commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri... for what we know at the time of writing

Interesting that "Northern mayors" get name-checked in this article. How significant is their existence, and involvement, in this reported decision?

Ministers to announce new rail link between Birmingham and Manchester [FREE TO READ] Government will reveal much-delayed plans for major new and upgraded rail links in north of England

Excl

Birmingham to Manchester is back on

as.ft.com/r/771bb6e6-4...

Thanks JP for this, I had no idea that these were all run from a single source. It is indeed a very positive development

No legal power to send in the NAO

But this would not have precluded a best value review in conjunction with the auditors, for instance

Yes the plural is doing a lot of heavy lifting there

Legend has it that that song was actually about Dylan. “I’ve lost my harmonica, Albert…”

We're recruiting!

Please do spread the news far and wide. We're excited by the prospect of being joined by another great new colleague!

Tourist taxes: policy and debates A briefing about transient visitor levies or 'tourist taxes', including information on plans for the introduction of tourist taxes in Scotland and Wales.

What's a 'tourist tax' or 'visitor levy', how does it work, what are the options for England? See some background here commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

This edition includes contributions from Dave Busfield-Birch, Tom Fleming, Jim Gallagher, Robert Hazell, @rowaninlondon.bsky.social, @lisajames.bsky.social, @hannahkelly.bsky.social, @alanrenwick.bsky.social, Meg Russell, @marksandford.bsky.social, @paulsilk.bsky.social and @alanwhysall.bsky.social.

This is really interesting, JP. Any thoughts as to why Rotherham's productivity started climbing in 2021 specifically? I know that's around the time that the mayoralty got full powers but I'd be loath to claim a direct association...

Delighted to discover that Dick Advocaat is the coach of Curacao's men's football team. Nominative determinism lives!

Tourist taxes: policy and debates A briefing about transient visitor levies or 'tourist taxes', including information on plans for the introduction of tourist taxes in Scotland and Wales.

What does a tourist tax look like? For information about what has been done in Scotland and Wales, see commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

Rachel Reeves may allow tourism tax, increasing the price of staycation The chancellor is expected to announce in the budget that mayors will be given sweeping powers to raise taxes by charging visitors a levy on an overnight stay

Tourist tax may be introduced via English Devolution Bill, says The Times: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

I was tagged and asked to take a look at this claim - cos, well just look at it!🙄

Does it seem plausible that THE Trocadero is going to be turned into a Mosque?

It was pretty easy to debunk but I decided to do a deep dive into the reality AND the appalling press coverage

🧵
1/26