Rayner commits to supporting boards with standards review and virtual meetings

Councils will be able to hold virtual meetings and suspend councilors for “misbehavior”, under changes announced by the Deputy Prime Minister today.

In a speech to the Local Government Association’s annual conference today, Angela Rayner revealed proposals to ‘reset’ the relationship between councillors, the public and central government with a review of the standards regime for members elected officials and a change in the law so that councilors are no longer obliged to publish their home address online.

The moves mark a significant change from the previous Conservative government, which rejected calls from councils to be allowed to hold hybrid meetings after many found it worked well during the Covid pandemic. Concern over the behavior of a minority of councilors has increased since the abolition of the Standards Board for England in 2012, with senior officials reporting they were left without the power to reprimand elected members.

Ms Rayner, who is also communities secretary, said councils should be able to “make the decision themselves” whether to hold virtual meetings or implement proxy votes for local decision-making.

She said it would “enable people from all backgrounds to have a stake in local democracy, whether they have caring responsibilities or are unable to attend town hall in person due to illness or a disability.

“It is true that we are making it easier for more people to get involved in making their community a better place to live,” she added.

“This government will adopt a collaborative and constructive approach towards municipalities in financial difficulty”

Angela Rayner

During her speech in Harrogate, Ms Rayner acknowledged other challenges councilors face in carrying out their duties, such as “persistent bullying” and harassment from colleagues or the public.

She pledged to “give councils the powers necessary to address misconduct” by councilors that has led to victims of such behavior resigning from the council chamber. This will include powers to suspend members as well as consultation on wider reforms to the normative framework for local authorities.

“We don’t have a system that protects victims or empowers councils to deal with unacceptable behavior,” she said.

Ms Rayner also acknowledged that councils can “too often become victims themselves” as “dedicated” advisers “face death threats and intimidation”.

A recent LGA survey found one in five councilors have received death threats or threats of violence.

Mr Rayner said: “I take this very seriously and recognize the impact this has on the lives of dedicated public service workers and their families.

“That’s why we’re taking decisive action to prevent councils from being bullied and harassed by removing the requirement to publish their members’ home addresses.

She said this indicates her government will “always have” the “support” of the council.

“This government will adopt a collaborative and constructive approach towards municipalities in financial difficulty,” she added.

“Fundamentally, I want to work together across central and local government to reform expensive public services and focus on stopping people needing them in the first place.

Proof she is taking this “seriously” is the “new leaders council” which will bring together “local government leaders and ministers to tackle common issues and deliver to the communities they ultimately serve”.

LGC understands that this will mean regular meetings between ministers and senior advisers representing all key sector bodies, regardless of their political party.

Ms Rayner promised to “use” the council of leaders to learn from the exciting innovations developed by the councils” and to co-design policies “at the highest levels” as a sign of “respect” for “knowledge and expertise » advice.

Among the policies that could be co-designed would be reforming the “broken local audit system”, she said, because it “cannot continue”.

She said: “Local audit will and must provide value for money for taxpayers and be fit for the future. Similarly, when the way councils operate has gone wrong, central government has not always responded constructively, but instead expelled councils when they were dissolved for political reasons. This Labor government, (we) are going to do things differently.

“We will work with every council that needs to to put in place clear and actionable plans to solve problems and protect local taxpayers, rather than treating them like political footballs. »

Ms Rayner also warned delegates that there would be “no quick fix to the disastrous public finances” and said that after taking office the government had “discovered a shocking crisis in local government, which went way beyond what we had imagined.

She added: “To make matters worse, we discovered that over the last decade the last Conservative government removed all financial controls on council spending, abolishing the Audit Commission and pushing councils to borrow more in addition. This reckless approach has left the government without a transparent system in place to notify the public when a council is in trouble.