The problem that is Labour local government

Abstract

N ote that word ‘is’ in the title of this piece. We are not dealing with problems ‘for’ Labour when it controls local authorities in the UK. Rather the focus is on the problem that such control poses for a party which has twice elected Corbyn as leader and is attempting to break with the direction taken by Labour under Blair and Brown. This article asks whether it is possible for a Corbyn-led Labour Party to make a difference to twenty-first century local government politics.