Emerging that Government will this afternoon announce plans to pause the process of English local government reorganisation pending a review. So where are councils now?

Anti-corruption body urges UK to toughen council codes of conduct www.localgov.co.uk/Anti-corrupt...

Anti-corruption body urges UK to toughen council codes of conduct | LocalGov

The Council of Europe's anti-corruption body has called on the UK to strengthen codes of conduct and integrity training for local councillors.

localgov.co.uk

Sobering thoughts from the @ids.ac.uk report 'Where's the Demos in Democracy' - 'The number of autocracies in the world now surpasses the number of democracies for the first time in 20 years.' www.ids.ac.uk/publications...

Where's the demos in Democracy? Building Democratic Futures and Resisting Autocracy - Institute of Development Studies

IDS authors argue there is an urgent need to rethink democracy by centring people, power, and inequality, and put forward eight building blocks to strengthen democracy and resist democratic decline.

ids.ac.uk

We would love to read this article in MJ - as a small organisation we can't afford to subscribe. Could someone send it to us ? www.themj.co.uk/former-counc...

Former councillor rages at lack of accountability for Brum failures

Senior officers and commissioners at Birmingham City Council should be held to account for their ‘failures' at the under-intervention local authority, according...

themj.co.uk

Wow. The Department for Education has just published new projections which estimate that the number of pupils in state-funded schools in England will plummet by more than 9% by 2031 amid falling birth rates And yet this issue receives probably 1,000th of the coverage the immigration debate receives

From the Hallett Covid Inquiry report on procurement published today

Jaw-dropping stuff last week revealed by @itvnews.bsky.social - report to Birmingham City Council contained suggestion that officers & Westminster commissioners take a decisions sack striking workers before new council was in place. www.itv.com/news/central... #LocalGov #accountability

We're looking for more people to speak to in Croydon about the effects of council bankruptcy and the Westminster intervention - get in touch if you know anyone (councillor, journalist, campaigner, community organisation etc) who could help us understand more about how Croydon has been affected.

Some positive new re: Assets of Community Value - summary by Save Birmingham here savebirmingham.org/news/excitin...

Save Birmingham

Protect our community places

savebirmingham.org

Reaction to Burnham's 'Manchesterism' speech from @re-state.bsky.social 'Just a handful of years ago, addressing the overcentralisation of power in England was an afterthought... Now it is being presented as the operating model for an entire programme of government.'

The Whole Government Accounts have again been disclaimed due to the crisis in #localgov audit. Whilst more councils provided accounts than last year, the number of unaudited or disclaimed accounts in England rose. The Local Audit Office cannot come soon enough. www.room151.co.uk/technical/go...

Government accounts disclaimed for a third year on back of local audit crisis - Room151

The National Audit Office said there had been “some progress” since last year, with the government having taken action to introduce the local audit

room151.co.uk

If you've ever wanted to learn to make better use of FOI requests, Campaign for Freedom of Information has a training how to use the FOI Act on 29th July: www.cfoi.org.uk/2026/02/usin...

Using the FOI Act training: Wednesday 29th July 2026 | Campaign for Freedom of Information

Do you want to learn how to use the Freedom of Information Act? Are you already using the Act, but want to know more about how key provisions are being interpreted? This practical training will enable...

cfoi.org.uk

It's COOPERATION DAY ! Into housing cooperation, worker cooperation, food cooperation? Come to this in London on 4th July. Guaranteed goodtime with @workers-coop.bsky.social @cooperationtown.bsky.social and other good ones dandelion.events/e/cooperatio...

Cooperation Day 2026

Sat 4th Jul 2026, 11am – 5pm BST (UTC +01:00)

dandelion.events

In the rubble of May's local government elections, councils are still in financial crisis & Westminster-led interventions are running the show. We'll be speaking about our research on democratic effects of interventions at this event (Birmingham/online, 15 June) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/public-acc...

Public Accountability and the Birmingham Council bankruptcy intervention

Join us for this timely discussion of accountability & democracy under the Birmingham Council commissioner led intervention. BBS room 103.

eventbrite.co.uk

When £1.1mn intended for a school building project disappeared into a criminal bank account, a specialist Thurrock Council fraud unit took over the investigation. Two years later, writes J.J. Jackson, the fraud remained unsolved. And the cost remains unknown.

The unanswered questions over NATIS’s two-year fraud investigation

A council fraud unit spent over two years investigating international fraud and no one knows what it cost

eastangliabylines.co.uk

In the rubble of May's local government elections, councils are still in financial crisis & Westminster-led interventions are running the show. We'll be speaking about our research on democratic effects of interventions at this event (Birmingham/online, 15 June) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/public-acc...

Public Accountability and the Birmingham Council bankruptcy intervention

Join us for this timely discussion of accountability & democracy under the Birmingham Council commissioner led intervention. BBS room 103.

eventbrite.co.uk

Cabinet or Committee system in local government? I don’t mind what the government prefers. I mind it being imposed on communities up and down the country. This is about real democracy - let communities decide. #Democracy #Devolution

A disappointing day for local democracy in the House of Commons as Govt pushed back on the Lords over forcing local councils to adopt leader and cabinet system - even if (as in Sheffield) there was a referendum where local people wanted committee system. More here www.facebook.com/groups/19201...

Just reading excellent round-up from @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social about the possibility of a 'mad coalition' there after May #LocalElections. We're heading there soon to talk #CouncilsInCrisis with locals - get in touch if you want to be part of research on council bankruptcies and interventions!

Silver lining on the #localaudit crisis: 22 councils missed the backstop deadline, down from 53 last year. However 41% of accounts disclaimed, meaning auditor doesn't have enough evidence to issue an opinion: we're still in the dark about #localgov finance big picture www.lgcplus.com/finance/reve...

Revealed: 22 councils miss audit backstop deadline

The government has published the names of 22 councils and one combined authority that missed the local audit backstop deadline. In a statement released

lgcplus.com

The current world order is cracking under the weight of corporate power, debt, and militarization. Across the Global South, movements and thinkers are asking what comes next and how international cooperation can serve peoples rather than empires. www.tni.org/en/article/t...

This Sunday, Grenoble goes to the polls. With @LaurenceRuffin, the city has a rendezvous with History: 🏛️ The first ever woman mayor of Grenoble 🤝 A coalition of 14 left-wing and green parties united 🌿 A decade of ecological governance to build on — and deepen ...

Fearless Cities, the international summit initiated by Barcelona En Comu, shows how we can build another world. And there is much to take from the Fearless Cities we co-organised in Sheffield in 2024, which we have explored in three blogs and a podcast. @barcelonaencomu.cat #FearlessCities

We want to hear from campaign & advice organisations who work in #Wales! We'd like to hear your experiences, so we can learn more about helping people get the right message to the right representative on #WriteToThem. Please pass this on to any suitable orgs: www.mysociety.org/democracy/ma...

Making contact: connecting people with their representatives in Wales

Making contact: connecting people with their representatives in Wales Helping people in Wales get the right message to the right representatives People across Wales contact their elected representat...

mysociety.org

Scotland grassroots and campaign orgs! Opportunity to do spokesperson training with the great @neonuk.bsky.social 14-16 April neweconomyorganisers.org/trainings/sc...

Scotland Spokesperson Training | NEON - New Economy Organisers Network

neweconomyorganisers.org

I am concerned about the recent closures to many arts organisations in Glasgow and have tried to detail them in this post. If you have any more relevant information please let me know!

Culture and Leisure at Risk, Glasgow 2026

eblknd.leaflet.pub

We are looking forward to this event from @publiclawproject.bsky.social - it's sold out but we're hoping more tickets will be released

Public Law Project@publiclawproject.bsky.social · 8mo ago

How can community organisations and legal experts work together to challenge injustice more effectively? Join us for our free webinar, Collaborative legal approaches for social change, on Thursday 19 March from 10:00-12:00. 🎟️ Book a free place now: lnkd.in/eG8mmHx7

“Freedom of information only works if you can find it” So why don’t gov depts proactively publish it? Then they won’t need to respond to requests. #FOIFest

35 councils now have 'exceptional' financial support for 2026/27. We've shown how these councils are still selling off millions of £ of assets despite these huge bailouts - researchforaction.uk/report-flogg...

Benjamin P Taylor@antlerboy.com · 8mo ago

Exceptional Financial Support for local authorities for 2026-27 www.gov.uk/guidance/exc...

To tackle the ecological crisis we must challenge the corporate-driven growth model and rethink power beyond the state. @steve-rushton.bsky.social explores how #Degrowth connects to #Municipalism drawing on Fearless Cites summit in Sheffield researchforaction.uk/fearless-cit...