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Dear colleague,
The General Election provides us with the opportunity to elect a Government that is capable of delivering a successful Brexit, has a good record on managing the economy and is committed to providing excellent public services.
Now more than ever we need a majority Conservative Government to break the Brexit deadlock and focus on the many domestic issues that we in local government deal with on a daily basis.
Thanks to the Government’s careful management of the economy over the last decade, we can now afford to invest in public services, building on the £3.5 billion in funding for local services that was announced in the recent Spending Round.
I am delighted that a large number of councillors, including our own LGA Deputy Chairman, Cllr David Simmonds, are standing as parliamentary candidates in seats across the country.
I would like to wish all of our candidates the best of luck and also to thank you, our army of Conservative councillors, for all of your campaigning to date.
As we enter the final fortnight of the campaign, I know that we will all be redoubling our efforts to elect a majority Conservative Government that will improve the lives of the people that we represent.
Best wishes,
Izzi
Cllr Izzi Seccombe OBE
Leader, LGA Conservative Group |
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For all the latest news from the LGA Conservative Group please follow us on Twitter at @LGACons
Conservative Party Manifesto
The Conservative Party Manifesto was published on Sunday. The following is a list of the key policy commitments from a local government perspective:
- Publish an English Devolution White Paper setting out our plans next year. (p.29)
- Support high rise residential residents with the removal of unsafe cladding, and continue with materials testing. (p.31)
- Invest £500 million in youth services for young people. (p.18)
- Ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries. (p.20)
- Tackle unauthorized traveller camps.…give the police new powers to arrest and seize the property and vehicles of trespassers who set up unauthorized encampments. (p.19)
- Make intentional trespass a criminal offence, and give councils greater powers (p.19)
- £250 million to support local libraries and regional museums. (p.26)
- A £150 million Community Ownership Fund to encourage local takeovers of civic organisations or community assets that are under threat – local football clubs, but also pubs or post offices. (p.26)
- Build a cross-party consensus to bring forward an answer that solves the social care problem. (p.12)
- Build 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s. This will see at least a million more homes, of all tenures, over the next Parliament – in the areas that really need them. (p.31)
- Bring forward a Social Housing White Paper which will set out further measures to empower tenants and support the continued supply of social homes. (p.30)
- Commit to renewing the Affordable Homes Programme, in order to support the delivery of hundreds of thousands of affordable homes. (p.30)
- Enabling councils to use developers’ contributions via the planning process to discount homes in perpetuity by a third for local people who cannot otherwise afford to buy. Councils could use this to prioritise key workers such as police, nurses and teachers. (p.29)
- Amend planning rules so that infrastructure – roads, schools, GP surgeries – comes before people move into new homes. A new £10 billion Single Housing Infrastructure Fund will help deliver it faster. (p.31)
- End the blight of rough sleeping by the end of the next Parliament by expanding successful pilots and programmes such as the Rough Sleeping Initiative and Housing First. (p.30)
- Placed a moratorium on fracking in England and will not support it unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely (p.55)
- lntroduce extended producer responsibility, so that producers pay the full costs of dealing with the waste they produce, and boost domestic recycling. (p.43)
- Increase penalties for fly-tipping, make those on community sentences clean up their parks and streets, and introduce a deposit return scheme to incentivise people to recycle plastic and glass. (p.43)
- £100 billion in additional infrastructure spending – on roads, rail and other responsible, productive investment. Flood defences will receive £4 billion in new funding. (p.27)
- The new Towns Fund will go to an initial 100 towns to improve their local economy – and they will make the choice about what improvements their local area needs. (p.26)
- Through bodies like the Northern Powerhouse, Western Gateway and Midlands Engine, drive greater levels of foreign investment into the UK, promoting our towns, cities and counties around the world. As part of plans for full devolution will invite proposals from local areas for similar growth bodies across the rest of England. (p.29)
- Launch the biggest ever pothole-filling programme as part of our National Infrastructure Strategy. (p.28)
Councillor safety
With campaigning for the General Election now well underway, the LGA is pleased to share our councillors’ guide to handling intimidation and the National Police Chiefs’ Council guidance for candidates (which should also be useful for campaigners).
A message from the Prime Minister to Conservative councillors
The Prime Minister has recorded a special message to Conservative councillors to thank them for all that they are doing during the General Election to campaign to elect a Conservative majority Government.
CCHQ volunteer website
CCHQ has launched its new volunteer website, where you can find details of regional campaigning events.
By signing up, the Volunteer Engagement team will keep you up-to-date with events going on in key seats near you.
LGA Conservative Group's 'Be a Councillor' programme
Increasing the pool of talent from which councillors are elected is a key task for all of us involved in local government. We need different kinds of people to stand for election so that parties get a choice of high quality candidates: people who are capable, vibrant, energetic and engaged, with a commitment to local people and a passion for change.
It is for this reason that the LGA runs its Be a Councillor campaign.
The campaign has two elements: a corporate, cross-party strand which is run by the LGA’s Leadership and Localism team, and a party political strand which is run individually by the LGA’s political groups.
Looking ahead to next year’s local elections, the LGA Conservative Group is keen to offer you any help that you may need in terms of candidate selection, and the training and development of selected candidates. We would aim to be as bespoke as possible, but examples of previous support include:
- Financial support for introductory events for people who are interested in becoming a councillor – eg a coffee morning or informal drinks reception.
- Formal training in group sessions for people who have been selected – eg on the role of the councillor, legal aspects of the campaign, dealing with the media.
- Supporting groups/associations who are having trouble attracting or who would like to attract a more diverse range of candidates – eg via advertising campaigns in the local newspaper.
If any of the above would be helpful to you, or if you think we could help in another way, please do let us know at lgaconservatives@local.gov.uk
LGA Councillors' Forum
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The LGA holds a regular Councillors' Forum, a cross-party meeting which discusses topical issues related to local government.
In addition, the Conservative Group holds a political meeting before the Councillors' Forum where we often welcome topical speakers. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss important political issues in closed session.
All Conservative councillors are welcome to attend the Councillors' Forum and the group meetings. If you wish to do so please email lgaconservatives@local.gov.uk or call us on 020 7664 3264.
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The Councillors’ Forum dates for 2019/20 are as follows, starting with a group meeting at 11am and then the Councillors’ Forum from 12.30pm:
- Thursday 23 January 2020
- Thursday 12 March 2020
- Thursday 4 June 2020
- Thursday 16 July 2020
LGA 'first' magazine
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'first' is LGA's membership magazine and is received as a hard copy by over 18,000 councillors and 400 Chief Executives. In a response to demand, we have made it easier to read online by creating a dedicated website to read all of its articles, interviews and opinion pieces.
Both the hard copy and online pdf are still available to readers, and subscriptions can be amended online.
Visit the first website
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Of interest this month:
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