A great country is built on strong communities. And strong communities are built on the shoulders of individuals – ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
As Communities Secretary I am privileged to witness this at first hand: proud residents confronting anti-social behaviour at their own personal risk; community leaders speaking out against sectarian divide; families refusing to be cowed by racist hatred.
My priority in Government has been to fight for these people – to bring power to them and help them make their part of the world a better place. Devolution is not about new names for old quangos, as Labour did, but real power for local communities.
And we’ve achieved that through freezing council tax, reducing the size of Government and enabling councils to share services to cut costs. We’ve also brought in neighbourhood plans so local communities can shape the places where they live and our PM has committed to English Votes for English Laws.
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