Following the long awaited publication of the UK Government’s Localism Bill, the Department for Communities and Local Government have issued a short guide to the Bill and the Big Society thinking behind it. Interestingly (for us) the guide states that as part of the case for decentralisation (from the UK perspective): “In nations as diverse as America, Sweden, Japan, Spain, Canada, Germany and France, citizens are trusted to make decisions over a greater proportion of public expenditure – and at more local level – than our citizens are allowed to. We need to catch up.”
