Facts first. Parties second.
22 articles
councillors
Survey of over 1,500 councillors finds 78% feel at personal risk, with 52% reporting increased abuse. Women, ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ members show higher rates of considering departure.
London
Seizure data shows private rental growth outrunning regulatory capacity, with vulnerable pedestrians bearing the direct costs.
private equity
Analysis of procurement data shows high-leverage firms now deliver transport, care and NHS services under structures that prioritise investor returns over operational resilience.
parking charges
East Lothian Council's parking meters draw unprecedented vandalism in North Berwick, costing £38,000 pre-launch. Ignored petitions and budget excuses reveal councils' revenue grabs alienating communities amid service cuts.
Labour
Labour's abrupt reversal on delaying 30 council elections exposes governance fragility, legal opacity, and political miscalculation just months into power. Taxpayers cover costs while councils rush unprepared polls.
local government
Former mayor Naheed Ejaz faces perverting-justice charge after using Urdu to help her son erase rape videos as officers waited outside. This exposes elite deference in local power structures.
local government
Labour secretary Steve Reed flags four-day weeks as failure indicators for English councils, overriding local trials amid productivity crisis. Central control persists across parties as bankruptcies mount.
Bradford 2025
Bradford's £51m UK City of Culture drew three million but left local businesses reporting flat trade. Public funds fuelled events and hype, yet economic legacy metrics stay vague amid recurring national patterns.
local government
Peterborough City Council sold a £4.6m college building for £1 to a charity, then paid £800k rent without a lease. Police arrests highlight governance failures repeating across UK local authorities. (148 chars)
SEND
England's £2.3bn annual school transport bill exposes absent local SEND provision, with councils proposing semantic fixes over capacity building. Taxpayers fund isolation taxis amid cross-party planning failures.
Enfield
Former Enfield mayor Mohammed Islam resigned after writing visa support letters for relatives, drawing mild sanctions amid process appeals. This exposes local officials abusing public roles to sway migration decisions, deepening trust erosion.
waste crime
A massive illegal waste mound in Oxfordshire contains council and school rubbish, highlighting corruption in waste management and the Environment Agency's enforcement failures. This case exemplifies national systemic neglect, costing taxpayers £1 billion annually amid rising environmental risks.
council tax
Six cash-strapped councils spent 16% of council tax on staff pensions last year, then secured permission for above-cap rises, revealing how public entitlements trump fiscal discipline and burden households amid national decline.
fly-tipping
Illegal dumping near Kidlington exposes enforcement paralysis, with cleanup costs overwhelming local budgets and risks mounting to waterways. Systemic under-prioritization allows organized crime to poison Britain's rural landscapes unchecked.
Green Party
A Green Party leader's resistance to housing asylum seekers in her affluent area exposes NIMBYism in progressive politics and the UK's stalled migration policies. This rift deepens community divides without addressing systemic backlogs.
data breach
A council's failure to redact consultation data exposed hundreds to potential harm, highlighting chronic underfunding and protocol breakdowns in local government data handling. This routine breach underscores broader institutional vulnerabilities across UK public services.
London councils
London's boroughs confront a £4.7 billion deficit by 2028 due to underfunding and rising mandates, forcing cuts to essential services. This crisis, spanning parties, highlights systemic failures in UK local governance.
Tower Hamlets
Councillors in Tower Hamlets neglect constituents for Bangladesh campaigns, revealing governance failures flagged in 2024 inspections. This cross-party pattern underscores accountability voids in UK local politics.
tax evasion
Fake snail operations in empty London offices evade £370,000 in business rates, exposing flaws in UK's tax enforcement. This scam strains local services and reveals persistent fiscal loopholes across governments.
Politics
In East London, protests have exposed deep fractures within communities long assumed to be politically unified. Matt Goodwin unpacks how decades of policy avoidance and institutional failure have led to the rise of sectarian politics on Britain's streets.
Local Government
Enfield's £18,000 mural debacle highlights a troubling trend in local governance: the prioritization of aesthetics over essential services. As councils grapple with budget constraints, the choices they make reveal a disturbing disconnect from the needs of their communities.
SEND
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has declared itself "technically insolvent" due to special educational needs and disability (SEND) costs. The council faces a £171 million shortfall by March 2026. This isn't a future risk—it's a present reality masked by accounting tricks.