Tory-controlled Kingston upon Thames council could be the first to become flagship independent authority
But setting the town hall free from council-tax capping arrangements would be controversial
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A local council is in secret talks to sever all links from central government and become a flagship independent authority, under a radical devolution plan being discussed in Whitehall, it emerged yesterday.
Officials from Conservative-controlled Kingston upon Thames council in south-west London are talking to ministers about losing all their central grant money in return for greater control over business rates and, ultimately, the freedom to set council tax.
The negotiations are revealed in a report by BBC1’s Sunday Politics London today. Council officials have been working on the number with Eric Pickles’s Department for Communities and Local Government, and a further round of ministerial negotiations is due before the election.
Setting the town hall free from council-tax capping arrangements would be controversial.
The Conservative Kingston council leader, Kevin Davis, said: “My ambition for the borough is that we can be independent from grant completely, that we can move away from a system where central government hands out monies to us and we have to spend it in the most reasonable way we can find. I want to see whether we can give [it] back to government, in return for which they need to give us some freedoms – in particular, give us a bit of an uplift in business rates.
“We are in conversation with [the Government] about it. They’ve not rejected it. It’s obviously got a bit tangled up in the wider devolution debate. I am due to meet the minister very soon.”
Speaking to the programme, Local Government minister Kris Hopkins said: “We want to talk to any council that can come up with innovative ways of reducing the burden on the taxpayer.”
Local government expert Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics said that the proposed plan could give Kingston “considerable consistency to plan”.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments