Liberal Democrats call for a strong, democratic and independent local government

3.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 16th Aug 2007

The Liberal Democrats have published proposals for strong, democratic and independent local government across England. The party's new local and regional government policy paper, 'The Power to be Different', sets out a blueprint for a new relationship between local and central government; one that puts local government in the driver's seat of public service delivery in this country.

Key proposals in the paper, which will be debated at Brighton Conference next month, include:

· 'Covenant' between central and local government, establishing the rights, responsibilities and powers of central, local and regional tiers

· Scrap nationally set targets and performance indicators

· Provide councils with the power of general competence, to equip them to serve and champion their communities to the best of their abilities

· Bring in proportional representation (STV) for electing local government

· Devolve tax-raising and spending powers, relocalise business rates, replace Council Tax with local income tax

· Grant decision-making powers to communities that want them, with communities coming up with a package that suited them for devolution, for example involving parish councils, area committees, or both

· Single principal tier of local government, unless the local community would prefer other arrangements, with the final structure voted on by people in a local referendum

· Directly elected regional government in those English regions that want it

· Review regional boundaries to ensure they reflect true regional distinctions rather than administratively convenient boundaries for the government

· Reassert democratic control over quangos by making them accountable to local government or regional assemblies