“For too long, we’ve asked councils to do more with less. The truth is, they can’t. Not anymore.”
Gavin Callaghan is a Labour councillor and leader of Basildon Council
Across the country, Reform UK is sweeping into councils. It’s easy to be dismissive – chalk it up to protest votes, frustration, or low turnout. But to do so would be to miss the bigger picture. People are crying out for visible change in their communities. And they’re not seeing it. For Labour, this moment should be a wake-up call. A warning siren. And an opportunity.
Because what’s really happening is this: voters are looking around at their towns and villages and asking a simple question – what has changed for the better?
For the past ten years, I’ve believed – and argued – that no party has properly articulated a vision for local government. Tinkering with governance structures, drawing new maps, and calling it “devolution” does nothing for the person who walks their dog through a litter-strewn park or who’s seen the local library closed. For too long, we’ve asked councils to do more with less. The truth is, they can’t. Not anymore.
The comprehensive spending review must address this – councils cannot be forgotten about any longer if the government is serious about delivering change in communities, that millions of people see every day. Just as John Prescott did in the last Labour government.
If Labour wants people to feel that the country is changing, then it has to start with where they live. That means restoring funding to local councils. And it means reinstating the Revenue Support Grant that then-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles so gleefully gutted in the early 2010s.
The Revenue Support Grant is a core pot of funding from central government that helps councils cover everyday running costs and essential services.
Let’s be blunt. Most people aren’t waiting for an NHS operation – not right now. So if Labour succeeds in bringing down hospital waiting lists, most voters won’t notice it. It’s the right thing to do. But politically? It’s not what wins hearts and minds.
Most voters don’t have school-age children. So they won’t benefit from free breakfast clubs – as noble and important as they are.
Most people never see a police officer on their street. Because too much of policing is locked behind desks, swallowed by bureaucracy. The public want to feel safe. That starts with visibility and presence – and that’s something local councils used to help deliver.
If Labour wants voters to believe in change, then show them change in their neighbourhoods. Fund the basics. Fund the things that drive pride and belonging. Fund the services that people see, touch, and use every single day.
Reinstating the Revenue Support Grant would allow councils to:
- Bring back weekly bin collections – not just in wealthy areas, but everywhere.
- Cut the grass more than five times a year.
- Clean the pavements, the subways, the alleyways – all those neglected corners that fuel a sense of decline.
- Reopen local swimming pools and leisure centres.
- Slash car parking charges that cripple high streets.
- Lower the cost of hiring 3G football pitches for kids and families.
The Conservatives decimated local government. They hollowed it out. And the British public notice. They feel it in the boarded-up shops. They see it in the fly-tipped rubbish and broken paving. They experience it in the lack of things to do for young people, and the costs of simple community activities.
Here’s the kicker: give councils back the money, and these changes could be visible in six to nine months. Before the next General Election. That’s a gamechanger.
Voters from all walks of life – Labour, Tory, Reform – would walk into polling booths in a year’s time and say: “you know what? The bins are back to weekly. The park’s looking better. That old swimming pool is open again.” That’s real change. Tangible change. And it’s delivered through Labour in power.
What’s more, councillors from all political stripes would be queuing up to deliver it. Because despite all the noise in Westminster, local government is still where the rubber hits the road. It’s where you can make things better – quickly, visibly, and for everyone.
Labour has a plan to change Britain. Keir Starmer has restored the party’s credibility and seriousness. Now he needs to show how that seriousness translates into results. Local government is the vehicle. But only if it’s fuelled.
Let’s stop pretending that town halls don’t matter. They do. They’re not the back office of government. They are the front line. And if Labour wants to keep hold of Whitehall, then it has to recognise that town halls are the scaffolding holding it all up.
If we want to rebuild pride in place – if we want to tell a story of national renewal that means something to the voter on the doorstep – then councils must be part of that plan.
All politics is local. So fund it.
Give councils the cash. Let them restore the services that people miss. Let them clean up the streets. Let them reopen the swimming pool. Let them prove – ahead of the General Election – that Labour in power means better lives in every community.
Labour doesn’t just need a national recovery plan. It needs a neighbourhood one. And it starts with giving councils the money to make change visible, fast.
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