{"id":82440,"date":"2017-07-11T14:13:32","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T14:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=acdc9c2fa73b4036a4bb968e6994be5d"},"modified":"2017-07-11T14:13:32","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T14:13:32","slug":"speech-working-together-to-make-local-government-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=82440","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Working together to make local government better"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Good evening everyone.<\/p>\n

After my last speech about local government I was a bit worried I\u2019d have my invitation for tonight revoked, so it\u2019s great to be here!<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s fair to say my speech at the LGA<\/abbr> got a mixed reception from the local government family.<\/p>\n

\u201cRarely have I been so incensed by a Secretary of State\u2019s speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was one of the nicer things Nick Forbes had to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cI displayed serious restraint by not heckling\u201d, tweeted Shaid Mushtaq.<\/p>\n

Thanks, Shaid.<\/p>\n

Nick Golding from the LGC<\/abbr> called it \u201castonishing\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fairly sure he meant that in a good way\u2026<\/p>\n

And depending on who you listen to, it went down either like a \u201cbucket of cold sick,\u201d or \u2013 my personal favourite \u2013 a \u201ccat food lasagne\u201d.<\/p>\n

So as I say, a mixed response\u2026<\/p>\n

Look, I know some people weren\u2019t happy with parts of that speech.<\/p>\n

But let me be clear.<\/p>\n

I love what local government does for this country.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m proud to represent you, defend you, and speak for you at the Cabinet table.<\/p>\n

Every day of the week, up and down the country, we see amazing work being done by councillors, officials and other employees.<\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t just mean the great and the good gathered in this room, or the senior figures who attend big conferences.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about the people out there on the front line delivering the services we all rely on.<\/p>\n

From street cleaners to social workers.<\/p>\n

Without them, without their skill and dedication, this country simply couldn\u2019t function.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years we\u2019ve asked a lot of local government.<\/p>\n

And time and again you have delivered.<\/p>\n

I will always respect you for that.<\/p>\n

And I want local government to be as good as it can be.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, that\u2019s going to involve me saying things you don\u2019t all agree with.<\/p>\n

But good friends are honest and open with each other.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019m ever critical of the work being done by some local authorities, it\u2019s only because I want to help you do better.<\/p>\n

And that level of honesty is a two-way street, by the way.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not hiding away here in Westminster.<\/p>\n

My door is always open, my phone is always on.<\/p>\n

I want you to talk to me.<\/p>\n

I want you to tell me what you think.<\/p>\n

If we don\u2019t see things the same way, that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

The very nature of politics and government means we won\u2019t always agree.<\/p>\n

Sometimes those divisions will be along party lines, sometimes a Parliament\/town hall split.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t respect each other, it doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t work together.<\/p>\n

And we do have to work together.<\/p>\n

The challenges we face \u2013 in housing, in social care, in community cohesion and so much more \u2013 are too great to tackle alone.<\/p>\n

Only through a strong, open, constructive relationship between local and central government can we make sure that councils are able to deliver the services everyone needs.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t just mean group leaders talking to secretaries of state.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the full range of local and national politicians working together constructively to get things done.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m delighted to see Martin and the APPG<\/abbr> doing so much to make that happen.<\/p>\n

Breaking down barriers, bringing people together, building trust and understanding.<\/p>\n

Like the Prime Minister, a lot of the MPs here tonight are former councillors.<\/p>\n

But I also know that, like me, a lot of them have mainly experienced local government as a taxpayer, a voter, a consumer of services.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got a lot of different perspectives in the room this evening, and that can only be a good thing.<\/p>\n

None of us here has a monopoly on wisdom.<\/p>\n

Local government has long been more trusted than its national counterpart.<\/p>\n

I want that high level of trust, and the equally high satisfaction with services, to continue.<\/p>\n

I want to keep on working with all of you to help make that happen.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m looking forward to doing just that for many years to come.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sajid Javid speaks to a summer reception hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Local Government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}