CLES News

Lord Glasman issues rallying call to revitalise communities

12th July 2011

Lord Glasman addresses the CLES Summit.

Rebuilding places begins with rebuilding relationships, Lord Maurice Glasman told the audience at the opening plenary of the CLES summit today.

The architect of Blue Labour, Lord Glasman is calling for a revived commitment and attachment to place and a renewal of local democracy, citizenship and traditional institutions to rebalance power in the hands of people.

Commodification and an over-dominant and managerial state have drained solidarity and disentangled citizens from all local relationships, he said, as he called for the rebuilding of a ‘common life’ to bring the power of citizens back into the equation.

The introduction of city parliaments, vocational training, local banks and community organisers could help re-energise citizenship and revitalise our towns and cities, he said, adding that the time is ripe for new models to bring hope, energy and power back to local areas.

‘We live in wonderful times. We’ve reached the end of the neo-liberal dream and state domination. It’s time for citizenship, imagination and growth.’

Read what he had to say about returning vocation, virtue and values back to institutions, about bringing the German model for public services to the UK and why he called Locality ‘well-intentioned busy-bodies’. New Start subscribers can read an interview with Lord Glasman here.