Fearless Cities: Building our power as a multitude
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Fearless Cities: Building our power as a multitude

This is Part 2 of Research for Action’s blog and podcast series based on Fearless Cities, a summit we co-organised in November 2024. The three blogs explore challenging racism, confronting ecological collapse and - in the blog below - sharing power and resources. Economic inequality is rampant worldwide, fuelled by decades of neoliberalism that have further elevated the ultra-rich elites to capture mainstream politics and hoard power. This system glorifies individualism and breeds greed. In Britain, it props up class power with its roots in medieval feudalism and its fingerprints all over colonialism. Fearless Cities in Sheffield set out how... [continues]
Fearless Cities against racism and fascism
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Fearless Cities against racism and fascism

  This is part 1 of Research for Action’s blog and podcast series based on Fearless Cities, a summit we co-organised in November 2024. Held in Sheffield and attended by over 400 people, Fearless Cities 2024 explored how local movements are building power in their communities and generating long-term, systemic change towards directly democratic local institutions. This is known as municipalism. Municipalism is about acting locally and looking beyond the nation state as the main theatre for politics. It requires global thinking, co-creating democratic power, inside or in opposition to local democratic structures or by creating autonomous alternatives.Fearless Cities summits... [continues]
Local audit reforms don’t go far enough in preventing private sector chaos
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Local audit reforms don’t go far enough in preventing private sector chaos

The government risks missing a key opportunity to fix the local audit crisis, leaving the whole country in the dark about council finances.The government has unveiled the plans to fix the local audit crisis with a new body, the Local Audit Office (LAO). Action can’t come soon enough. Last year only 4% of local councils submitted audited accounts on time for 2023/24, even lower than the 10% last year that prompted the National Audit office to take the unprecedented step to disclaim the Whole Government Accounts, essentially a refusal to sign off the accounts as correct. This year, that step... [continues]
Posted inEvents Uncategorized

Fearless Cities Sheffield – programme released

The programme for Fearless Cities is out! We are thrilled that the municipalist summit we have been working on all year (with partners from Opus Independents, Citizen Network and European Municipalist Network) is now very near. Come join us in Sheffield 2-3 November for a weekend of discussion, learning and making new connections.  Here’s the programme: Fearless Cities programme v2Download Here is the web link for the programme, if that is easier. You can register from this link The summit, which aims to rethink local democracy through different themes, takes place over Saturday and Sunday, with fringe programme on Friday... [continues]
a crowd of people facing forward
Posted inCurrent Events Uncategorized

Open Call: Contributions wanted for the UK’s first Fearless Cities summit!

Dear friends from community and campaign groups, neighbourhoods, social movements,  We are delighted to announce that the Fearless Cities summit will be coming to the UK for the first time. It will take place in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, from 1-3 November.  There will soon be more information on the website: https://www.fearlesscitiessy.org/ Fearless Cities summits are at the heart of the ‘municipalist’ movement to bring about change at the local level by reclaiming the commons, feminising politics and reimagining democracy. They are places where we can share ideas and practices that build the structures for a better, more caring and democratic... [continues]
REPORT: Democratising Local Governance
Posted inDemocratising Governance Projects Publications Uncategorized

REPORT: Democratising Local Governance

  This report describes the findings from an action research project in Glasgow and Sheffield, which examined the relationships between local governance and local activism.  Together with project partners from Solidarity Against Neoliberal Extremism (SANE) and It’s Our City! in the respective cities, we spoke to local campaigners and community groups between November 2022 and January 2023. Participants from both cities – working on a diverse range of issues – identified common experiences, themes, and demands for a more democratic local governance, as well as the prospects for more collectivised action. We heard widely shared concerns about local democracy and... [continues]
2023 in review: and looking forward….
Posted inAudit and Accountability Citizen Auditors Current Democratising Governance Newsletters Projects Uncategorized

2023 in review: and looking forward….

As 2023 draws to a close, we wanted to share with you some highlights of Research for Action’s work. It has not been a great year for democracy - for example in local audit, which is one of the areas we work in, the UK Government has chosen not to deliver promised new legislation. But at the same time we are part of new and growing networks of people determined to do things differently. It has been a year of great collaboration with others who care about local democracy, be it project partners in Sheffield, Glasgow or Europe-wide, or the... [continues]
Open Letter on Audit Reform
Posted inAudit and Accountability Citizen Auditors Current Projects Uncategorized

Open Letter on Audit Reform

21st November 2023This letter was originally published in The Byline Times. We represent a range of organisations and individuals working on audit and accountability, local government and local democracy. We are deeply concerned about the current situation in local government audit. In October, a cross-party group of MPs and Peers wrote to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, asking him not to drop audit reform. We are also alarmed at the Government has shelving long-promised audit legislation, with no mention of it in the King’s Speech on 7th November. We are concerned that a lack of primary legislation is continuing to... [continues]
REPORT: Local Audit: Why public interest needs to count
Posted inAudit and Accountability Current Projects Publications Uncategorized

REPORT: Local Audit: Why public interest needs to count

Local government in the UK is in a state of deep crisis. Shrinking of the state, centralisation of power and the hollowing out of the local state have decimated the sector. Local audit should be one of the central accountability mechanisms in a well-functioning democracy, but it is not working.  Current audit arrangements in England are failing to provide oversight and scrutiny at a time when it is particularly essential. Private interests overshadow public interests, the capacity for scrutiny and challenge at all levels has been reduced, and there is less openness and transparency in local government and audit since... [continues]
EVENT- Local Audit: Why Public Interest needs to count
Posted inAudit and Accountability Citizen Auditors Current Events Uncategorized

EVENT- Local Audit: Why Public Interest needs to count

Online Event -   Local Audit: Why Public Interest Needs to Count Weds 16th August, 7-8.30 pmPlease sign up for the event here How can we get better local government accountability from the ground up? Launch event and discussion for Research for Action’s new report Local audit in England is in a state of deep crisis. Multiple scandals of accountability have emerged, and ordinary people suffer. The current audit arrangements are failing to provide oversight and scrutiny at a time when it is particularly essential. Private interests overshadow public interests, the capacity for scrutiny and challenge at all levels has been reduced,... [continues]