“Ministers should take the lead in healing the divides of election hustings”

May 6, 2011

“Ministers should take the lead in healing the divides of election hustings”, says think tank

Reacting to today’s local election results, Simon Parker, Director of localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN) said:

“The cocktail of Coalition Government and Labour gains is likely to mean that political tensions rise even further over the coming months. Ministers should take the lead in healing the divides of election hustings and begin to build bridges with new administrations”

“The redrawn electoral map changes the political dynamics but not the fact that local government is in the middle of a period of upheaval. New councilors will, quite rightly, want to go back over budget decisions taken by previous Leaders, but as difficult as dealing with the cuts is, the ultimate goal must be to come out of this period with a stable, redesigned and more efficient sector”

“This would be tough enough in times of perfect harmony between ministers and councilors; but if relationships deteriorate further, the task will become significantly harder”

Ends


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