The Independent reports that the government plans to radically alter local government in England, replacing it with a single-tier mayoral-style system, according to a leaked draft of the government’s levelling up white paper

The document states that the government is setting out a “new devolution framework for England” based on a model of a directly elected leader “over a well-defined economic geography”.

The ambition is to strip back layers of local government and replace them with a single-tier system, as in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, but the government is already braced for a backlash to the plans, according to one senior official.

The plans proposed in the draft paper would mean a huge overhaul of local government, and either scrapping or merging England’s 181 district councils and 24 county councils.

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The Independent - Ministers plan sweeping changes to local government as part of levelling up agenda, leaked paper reveals