By Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Last year, my Department and its associated bodies spent more than £650 million: more than £10 for every man, woman and child in the country. But until yesterday, if you had wanted to find out exactly how that money had been spent, you’d […]
By Local Government and Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles As the Local Government Secretary of State I’ve set about abolishing all the Rs. Regional Spatial Strategies, regional housing targets, Regional Assemblies, Government Offices for the Regions and Regional Development Agencies. We’ve said our goodbyes. The arbitrary regional tier of government administration and bureaucracy was unpopular, ineffective […]
By Tim Montgomerie On ToryDiary yesterday Paul Goodman reviewed Eric Pickles' impressive early actions and the five big challenges he still faces. Today the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has completed his abolition of Labour's sprawling regional bureaucracy. Already axed were Regional Development Agencies, Regional Strategies, funding for Regional Leaders’ Boards and […]
Eric Pickles MP is Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and this is the first of what will be a regular, fortnightly column for ConservativeHome. "Show me the money!" It’s one of the most recognisable catchphrases in film history and it’s coming to a council near you. We all know that budgets are […]
As promised by Eleanor Laing last week, the Conservatives have tabled an amendment to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill which would Save General Election Night by setting in statute a requirement for Returning Officers to count votes at general elections on the night. It proposes that counts could only be delayed if there are […]
Yesterday saw an adjournment debate in the Westminster Hall chamber initiated by Labour MP David Cairns on "the accountability of returning officers", which enabled MPs to discuss the Campaign to Save General Election Night. There were more than a dozen MPs present for the debate – far higher than usual for proceedings in Westminster Hall […]
After I launched the campaign to Save General Election Night to ensure that votes are counted and results delivered overnight at the general election, a number of spurious arguments have been offered for wanting to overturn the traditional Thursday count in favour of Friday morning counts. One of the claims regularly made by Returning Officers […]
With the number of MPs who have signed the Save General Election Night early day motion almost standing at 200, and the Facebook group membership having almost reached 5,500, Tory chairman Eric Pickles has been seeking further information about the extent of plans by Returning Officers to switch counting at the next general election to […]
That's according to this piece by the Guardian's political editor, Patrick Wintour. The Conservative Party chairman, who was campaigning in the West Country today, reportedly predicts that the Conservatives will win "more than 40% of the vote" and gain "more than 100" Labour seats at the local election contests for the 27 county councils and […]
A little earlier I posted a piece by shadow local government minister Bob Neill reporting back from the Conservative Councillors’ Association annual conference, which has been taking place over the last couple of days. In his address to the conference today, party chairman Eric Pickles urged all present to "get in touch with their inner […]
The end of half-term brings with it a new edition of Hansard and written answers. Herewith some that grabbed my attention. The answer that leapt out at me was to Shadow Home Affairs Minister David Ruffley. Staggeringly, the Government doesn’t seem to know by how many police officers the country is short: "Mr. Ruffley: To […]
Eric Pickles, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (at the time of writing!) appears to have scored another success. Last November he claimed that the Government was hiding from pubs the fact that they could be entitled to a cut in business rates due to the smoking ban. The story appeared in […]
According to reports in The Times and Financial Times Eric Pickles MP wants to encourage local councils to cut costs by pooling the administration and delivery of certain key services and, as a reward, they will get the opportunity to keep more of the council tax that they raise. The FT identifies "childcare services, council […]
Boxing Day’s Telegraph carried the following story: Labour planning secret tax on ‘nice houses’. It appears that Labour has divided Britain up into 10,000 localities with particularly ‘nice’ localities likely to receive higher council tax bills if Labour wins the next election. Shadow Secretary of State Eric Pickles told The Telegraph: "The cat is out […]
Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles recollects an election night which saw him elected to Bradford council, but disappointment at the narrow defeat of the Conservative candidate in Keighley. The Thatcher years started for me with feelings of sadness, disappointment and regret. The stinging disappointment came from our failure to take the Labour seat of Keighley […]