UK government is known as one of the most centralised in the world. One way which the current government claimed to be giving power back to local government was through the ‘General Power of Competence’. This was a long awaited bit of legislation (first contained in the 1983 Labour Party Manifesto) which means councils can now do anything that isn’t forbidden (whereas before they had to be given permission through an Act of Parliament). Unfortunately, it’s not been as big a change as local government would have hoped.
Samir Jeraj - Freelance Journalist 