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Alexandra Jones contributes to a Guardian Local Leaders Quarterly discussion on the limits of localism
Despite recent progress we haven’t seen localism yet. We have seen some steps towards it with local enterprise partnerships and community budgets, business rate retention and city deals. These things have all made a difference, but we continue to be one of the most centralised countries in the world: 17% of local money is raised locally in the UK, 55% is the average across the OECD. Funding and decisions still get made by the centre; on average 60% of local authorities money comes from cental government, more if you are in a deprived area.
Read the rest of the article in the Guardian. Picture gallery of the event here.