Local Government Reform and Political Leadership

The administration of a wide range of local government services requires a similar kind of leadership to other public authorities. All public bodies, particularly to those with delivery functions, have to respond to policy changes introduced by Whitehall and in the European Union. They need to manage a complex environment, with many stakeholders and pressures on public services. But local authorities are different: they are led by elected politicians who draw their mandates from citizens living in their jurisdictions. The elected element creates a particular kind of leadership because a key pressure for policy change is directed by citizen voice and also by political parties with focused platforms. Most of all the leaders of local authorities are politicians rather than bureaucrats. They have an eye to the wider public and to managing political conflicts. Their careers do not depend on rising up the bureaucracy or transferring from place to place, but in making a difference locally, maintaining their reputations and keeping their rivals in their place.