A poll carried out by the Effective Governance Forum (EGF) has revealed that over 80% of Northern Ireland’s voters believe that local government should have more control over delivering services.
Also, 61% of respondents would be more inclined to vote in local elections if their local council had the authority to make more decisions. This comes as the local elections held in May only had a turnout of 54%.
The poll was published alongside a new EGF report titled “The Effective Decentralisation of UK Government”. It advocates for a significant shift in power from Westminster to local government bodies.
In the report, it is argued that local government can solve challenges better than central government, and should run all major services, including:
- Policing
- Health
- Education
- Economic Affairs
- Transport
It also proposes that local government should have increased tax-raising powers to support the delivery of said services. This would therefore allow the central government (Westminster) to focus on national issues such as defence and border control.
