Rebalancing British democracy in favour of voters

The Local Government Association, an all-party organisation representing more then 350 councils in England and Wales, is calling for a major programme of reform to give millions of voters more local control over vital public services from health and social care to economic development.

Proposals to give voters a greater say over how services are run locally include:

* Giving locally-elected councillors the power to propose national legislation at Westminster, and guaranteeing time for debate.
* Increasing the services voters can choose to be delivered in their area by giving councils a power to provide any public services not explicitly reserved for national government
* Rolling back the Quango state
* Giving voters more control over taxation by setting business rates locally – at present they are determined nationally - and ensuring those tax receipts are available to improve local services.
* Giving voters more influence over national legislation by increasing the power of locally-elected councils to scrutinise new laws.
* Giving local people more power over the health service
* Linking parliamentary constituencies more closely with local authority boundaries to make MPs and councillors more accountable.

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