New Labour and Inter-Governmental Management

Abstract

The promise of a reinvigorated local government that many believed was imminent following the UK election of New Labour in 1997 was not immediately realized. Central government has made clear that local authorities have opportunities to enhance their role only if they meet its expectations. The messages emanating from central government have been complicated and at times contradictory. Local authorities must develop innovative ways of working in a multi-agency context, while also meeting central government's prescriptive results-based agenda. The opportunities and threats arising from the tensions evident in central government's policies towards local authorities have profound implications for UK intergovernmental management. Taking account of parallel developments in some other European countries, and applying associated developing theory, this article examines how far English local authorities are adapting to a networking environment and the extent to which they nonetheless operate within an ‘action space’ defined and predetermined by central government.