Ill-gotten gains: Partisan alignment, politicised grant flows, and English local election outcomes

Liam Simon Clegg; Graeme Alan Marshall Davies

doi:10.1177/02633957241229375

Ill-gotten gains: Partisan alignment, politicised grant flows, and English local election outcomes

Liam Simon Clegg, Graeme Alan Marshall Davies

Politics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Are grant flows from the Westminster government to local authorities influenced by political dynamics, and if so do these politicised transfers influence local election outcomes? John and Ward (2001) suggested that, through the 1980s and 1990s, Conservative central governments favoured politically aligned local authorities. We demonstrate the continuation of this trend across the cohort of Labour, coalition, and Conservative governments from 2007-19, and also establish evidence of inter-party variation in the type of grant manipulation in existence. We also more substantively extend John and Ward’s work by demonstrating that electoral ‘ill-gotten gains’ follow from these politicised flows, with higher resource transfers being associated with marginally stronger incumbent electoral performance. Given the importance of central grants to subnational government in the UK, these findings are of significant contemporary policy relevance.

Original language	English
Number of pages	18
Journal	Politics
Early online date	27 Feb 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957241229375
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 27 Feb 2024

Bibliographical note

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10.1177/02633957241229375Licence: CC BY

Ill-gotten gains: Partisan alignment, politicised grant transfers and English local election outcomes
© The Author(s) 2024
Final published version, 392 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Ill-gotten gains: Partisan alignment, politicised grant flows, and English local election outcomes",

abstract = "Are grant flows from the Westminster government to local authorities influenced by political dynamics, and if so do these politicised transfers influence local election outcomes? John and Ward (2001) suggested that, through the 1980s and 1990s, Conservative central governments favoured politically aligned local authorities. We demonstrate the continuation of this trend across the cohort of Labour, coalition, and Conservative governments from 2007-19, and also establish evidence of inter-party variation in the type of grant manipulation in existence. We also more substantively extend John and Ward{\textquoteright}s work by demonstrating that electoral {\textquoteleft}ill-gotten gains{\textquoteright} follow from these politicised flows, with higher resource transfers being associated with marginally stronger incumbent electoral performance. Given the importance of central grants to subnational government in the UK, these findings are of significant contemporary policy relevance.",

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N2 - Are grant flows from the Westminster government to local authorities influenced by political dynamics, and if so do these politicised transfers influence local election outcomes? John and Ward (2001) suggested that, through the 1980s and 1990s, Conservative central governments favoured politically aligned local authorities. We demonstrate the continuation of this trend across the cohort of Labour, coalition, and Conservative governments from 2007-19, and also establish evidence of inter-party variation in the type of grant manipulation in existence. We also more substantively extend John and Ward’s work by demonstrating that electoral ‘ill-gotten gains’ follow from these politicised flows, with higher resource transfers being associated with marginally stronger incumbent electoral performance. Given the importance of central grants to subnational government in the UK, these findings are of significant contemporary policy relevance.

AB - Are grant flows from the Westminster government to local authorities influenced by political dynamics, and if so do these politicised transfers influence local election outcomes? John and Ward (2001) suggested that, through the 1980s and 1990s, Conservative central governments favoured politically aligned local authorities. We demonstrate the continuation of this trend across the cohort of Labour, coalition, and Conservative governments from 2007-19, and also establish evidence of inter-party variation in the type of grant manipulation in existence. We also more substantively extend John and Ward’s work by demonstrating that electoral ‘ill-gotten gains’ follow from these politicised flows, with higher resource transfers being associated with marginally stronger incumbent electoral performance. Given the importance of central grants to subnational government in the UK, these findings are of significant contemporary policy relevance.

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