As polls closed on 7 May Ed Miliband was the bookies' favourite to become prime minister, albeit in a coalition of some sort and 1 was hopeful of being appointed minister for local government. All my working life 1 have been involved with local government, championed local democracy and made the case for localism. It goes back to being a councillor in my early twenties at a time when local government was increasingly swamped with initiatives from the centre. Later, I worked at the Local Government Association and prior to becoming an MP, was chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, where we argued for very radical devolution across a wide range of public services and competences, including in the criminal justice system and the welfare system. In 2010, the coalition made a bold commitment to localism. There were very important steps, such as the extension of the Power of General Competence, something I had lobbied for. I was the very first witness to be called to give evidence to the committee of MPs considering the Localism Bill. Like most people in local government, I was strongly supportive.
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