Local government and the commons Simon Parker, Director, NLGN

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A new(ish) approach to local government 4 Councils retain more of the proceeds of growth New jobs reduce dependency and therefore public sector costs Councils able to balance their budgets Money and capacity is freed up Councils drive economic growth

Conservative fiscal plans 5 Spend in 2018–19 6.6% lower than in 2015–16 (real cut of £23.8 billion) 2.2% per year average cut 2.0% per year average cut

The universal transition 6

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Weak signal one: it’s already happening 9

Weak signal two: shifting public attitudes 10

Weak signal three: growth of coops 11

Weak signal four: a changing labour market 12

Some questions… How do we manage a transition from big state to a partnership between government and commons? How can new approaches to welfare support a different labour market and promote the commons? How can we grow the kind of innovative organisations we need for the commons? 13

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