Local and regional democracy in the United Kingdom
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has examined a report on the situation of local and regional democracy in the United Kingdom at its 26th session. Congress rapporteurs Angelika Kordfelder (German,SOC) et Alexander Uss (Russian Federation, EPP/CCE) expressed satisfaction that, on the whole, the situation of local and regional democracy in the United Kingdom fulfilled the commitments entered into by that country under the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
However, they regretted that local self-government was not constitutionally or legislatively enshrined in the United Kingdom and noted that local and regional authorities did not have adequate financial resources.
The Congress recommends that the United Kingdom authorities develop more institutionalised consultation arrangements for local government and take steps to reduce the financial constraints on local authorities resulting from cuts and indebtedness.Furthermore, it encourages the United Kingdom authorities to review their declaration on the scope of the Charter in order to include the Greater London Authority and Northern Ireland.
The adopted recommendations are transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which may decide to transmit them to the authorities of the country concerned, in order that they may take the texts into consideration. National authorities and the Congress may then decide to continue their political dialogue initiated during the monitoring process, to guide the implementation of these recommendations on the basis of a jointly-developed roadmap. This second stage is the post-monitoring phase, based primarily on the development of this political dialogue..
Recommendation 353 (2014)
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