Rediscovering democratic purpose in British local government

This article examines the weak condition of local democracy in Britain against the background of successive reorganisations which have vitiated public support for local government by subordinating democratic purpose to perceived functional requirements, If the new structures are not to reinforce this vicious circle, local government must advance beyond the orthodox, top-down, view of the problem as 'centralism' and address its own failure to build sufficient bottom-up support for local government as a democratic institution. There is a particularly strong case for devolving real power to localities and establishing a more active and inclusive democratic relationship between government and the governed through appropriate forms of direct democracy.