Speeches by McMahon.

“It also falls apart the minute that you receive proposals that are not entirely in line with the assessment that you have tried to make sense of. We are going to do this genuinely in partnership with local areas. We are going to provide the framework and the guidelines so that areas know what they need to be working to…”

“We can provide the references. The assessments are out there. We can provide examples of reorganisations that have taken place and the savings that have been drawn out through that.”

“There are assessments made of the savings that can be achieved through local government reorganisation. There have been very recent reorganisations that have taken place that have delivered savings. That evidence is there. What makes it difficult to profile potential savings coming forward is that we do not know yet wh…”

“To a point, any figure that we publish would be arbitrary, but it is about giving a framework. When areas are pulling together to try to reach a local consensus where possible, they know broadly the guidelines that they are working to in making their submissions. You have to draw the line somewhere. We believe that is …”

“This is about balance, clarity for the taxpaying public, the efficiency of delivering local public services and getting money to the frontline rather than spending it on operational costs. Efficiency also brings you to scale. In two-tier areas, there is always a tension between those people-targeted services, such as a…”

“That is in the eye of the beholder. Obviously, I think my council is wonderful.”

“There is not a proposal to carry out a reorganisation in the met authorities, to answer directly the point being made. That is a bit of a distraction. The project is across the remaining 21 two-tier areas, to bring to an end the two-tier system and to create unitary authorities in those areas. In achieving that, the pr…”

“At that point, it is not really about population size; it is about the two-tier system. Think about how many councillors are dual-hatted because they represent both the district council and the county council because, to get things done, they feel like they have to be in both places, in some cases. Think about the taxp…”

“The White Paper is very clear on what we mean by “exceptions”. Where it is going hand in hand with devolution, where strategic authorities are being created in a larger population base or a larger geography, you might want to give a bit on population to have a more localised footprint. It is hand in hand with devolutio…”

“We are allowing flexibility and saying, “We will do this in partnership”. I would reject that as adding confusion. That is about working in partnership and being flexible. That is what we have been asked for. Setting a clear sense of direction, which is what the criteria are, is also what we have been asked for. We hav…”

“At the moment, the statutory invitation has gone out. It is for local authorities to decide whether they want to be part of this batch of LGRs that are going forward. It is for local areas to develop their proposals. We have issued the framework for that. What does a good outcome look like? If everyone agrees in their …”

“The evidence is really from the local government reorganisation that has taken place. What we are seeing from the local government reorganisation that has taken place—there are variations on the theme: some much larger, some much smaller—is that that is the right level to get efficiencies out of the system, given that …”

“There was not a different figure. The figure of 500,000 is generally accepted. If you want to do a reorganisation for efficiency and you want councils that balance local identity and the spread of geography—you have to bear in mind that the two-tier system, as you all know, is generally across the shire counties—that f…”

“It also requires flexibility on all sides. We were very keen to reset the relationship between central Government and local government, where, for a long time, local government felt that it was being done to. In this reorganisation, we are very clear about the direction of travel. We are looking to bring to an end the …”

“The criteria are wider than that. Those are the guiding criteria from a political point of view.”

“We set out the criteria in the letter that went out as part of the statutory invitation. We have also had some feedback from local authorities that said, if there was a template or pro forma, not to limit local proposals but to form the submission to the statutory invitation, that would be helpful too. The Government w…”

“I think so. In the English devolution White Paper we included a section on community power. There is quite a lot of this that is architectural. It is about the structures that support devolution and local government, but that is quite separate to the powers that people feel in the places where they live. That can range…”

“It is probably a bit of both. The criteria that we set out of course have population numbers because, in part, this is about efficiency. It is about taking money that is currently held in operational costs down to the frontline, so people can see an improvement in services. Councils will have to take into account local…”

“It predates reorganisation in the current round. One of the very first things to be sacrificed at the start of austerity was local neighbourhood services. Because quite a lot of council delegation to things such as district executives, area committees, district forums or neighbourhood forums were, by and large, for nei…”

“I have been very honest and said that we are alive to what are now fairly routine requests that come in from our mayors and local authorities about what I would say are quite marginal freedoms around fiscal devolution. Also, I would return to say that any Government will want to take taxation in the round. That is the …”