A central role for local government? The example of late Victorian Britain

With a dominant free market ideology, Britain by the 1860s had experienced several decades of rising social inequality and restricted resources for public services and local government. However, between 1865 and 1875 the prestige of local government was revolutionised and a model for popular, effective public services was developed by provincial business and community leaders. This flowering of British civic activism contributed to a massive improvement in urban health by 1914, with local government expenditure outstripping central government. History suggest that in the twenty-first century re-invigoration of independently-resourced elected local democracy is a key to reducing inequality and poverty.