Labour and the Governance of England

2018 ◽  
pp. 137-157
Author(s):  
John Denham
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Regional Administration ◽  
Extensive System ◽  
Unitary State ◽  
Constitutional Reforms ◽  
The Uk

The 1997–2010 Labour Government introduced wide-ranging constitutional reforms, creating new democratically elected bodies and rights for UK citizens. However, the governance of England was left largely unchanged. With the exception of the Greater London Authority, no new democratic bodies were created for England, nor were any significant powers granted to local government. An extensive system of regional administration was created but then swiftly swept away by the incoming Coalition Government in 2010. England became the only part of the union whose domestic policy was determined by the UK Government. This chapter argues that this outcome was rooted in Labour’s traditions of political thought: its assumption of a unitary state, its centralist instincts, its distrust of local government and its reluctance to consider England’s identity and constitutional position within the union. It finds some evidence Labour is now taking the English Question more seriously, but old attitudes retain significant weight.

Public health: unchained or shackled?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Health System ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Health Gap ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The Uk

As in the case of other parts of the UK wider health system, it has been a turbulent time for public health since 2010. Not only has the function undergone major structural and cultural change following its return to local government from the NHS, where it had been located since 1974, but it has had to confront new challenges in public health arising from lifestyle behaviours and a widening health gap between social groups. All of this has occurred during a period of unprecedented financial austerity affecting public services in general but local government in particular. This chapter reviews the state of public health in the lead up to the changes announced by the Coalition government in 2010. It then summarises the reforms before offering an interim assessment of their impact. Finally, it discusses the evidence to date concerning the reforms and speculates on likely prospects in the years ahead.

The IMF, the UK Policy Debate, and Debt and Deficit Discourse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Clift
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Fiscal Consolidation ◽  
Policy Space ◽  
Fiscal Multipliers ◽  
Scientific Image ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Deep Recession ◽  
The Imf

This chapter charts changing character of the economic ideas informing fiscal policymaking in Britain, and Fund responses to them. Drawing on interviews with the Fund’s UK Missions and UK authorities, it shows how, despite the IMF’s prizing of its non-political, scientific image, its differing views of UK policy space and prioritization became the stuff of a contested politics. The central assumption of the coalition government’s construction of fiscal rectitude was that Britain faced a ‘crisis of debt’, yet the IMF did not share this view. Fund work on fiscal multipliers being higher during recessions, and the adverse effects of fiscal consolidation on growth, all had pointed relevance for UK policy. The coalition government saw little potential for activist fiscal policy in support of growth. In 2013 Blanchard accused the UK authorities of ‘playing with fire’ by pursuing excessively harsh austerity which threatened a prolonged and deep recession.

scholarly journals Young People’s Services in an Age of Neoliberalism

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-206
Author(s):  
Graham Brotherton ◽  
Christina Hyland ◽  
Iain Jones ◽  
Terry Potter
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Young People ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Youth Services ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Way

Abstract This article brings together four different perspectives which explore the way in which various policy initiatives in recent years have sought to construct young people resident in the United Kingdom within particular policy discourses shaped by neoliberalism. In order to do this it firstly considers the way in which the assumptions of neoliberalism have increasingly been applied by the new Coalition Government to young people and the services provided for them; it then considers the particular role of New Labour in the UK in applying these ideas in practice. Specific examples from the areas of young people’s participation in youth services and higher education policy are then considered.

scholarly journals Social Justice and Disabled People: Principles and Challenges

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robina Goodlad ◽  
Sheila Riddell
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Alternative Conceptions ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Uk

Social justice is a policy aim of the UK Labour government. This paper considers the applicability of the concept to disability, seeking to establish principles for conceptualising social justice and disability and considering the nature of the challenges for public policy and society posed by this conceptualisation. The paper considers how disability is implicated in two types of claims about the source of social injustice: those concerned with socially constructed differences between people; and those arising from material inequalities. Appropriate values underpinning alternative conceptions of social justice are discussed and tensions in policymaking considered.

The Last Days of the UK Film Council

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Civil Servants ◽  
The Political ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Key Players ◽  
Political Background ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Considerable Detail ◽  
Film Policy

Based on key players’ testimony and an extensive documented record, this chapter initially discusses the political background to the fraught merger talks between the BFI and the UKFC in 2009-2010, along with the uncertain role of the DCMS. It then turns to consider the shock decision to close the UKFC taken by Conservative ministers in the DCMS serving in the Coalition government elected in May 2010. Various possible reasons for closure are evaluated in considerable detail and the impact on the UKFC is described. The account analyses each of the steps taken by the DCMS to devise a new landscape of film support post-UKFC, with the BFI assuming many functions after extensive negotiation with ministers and civil servants. Next, the BFI’s new turn in film policy is considered. A range of views on the closure decision, both pro and con, is discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document