ABSTRACT
The history of public relations – or more broadly communications – in local government is an important one to understand. The PR industry in the UK owes a debt to those early pioneers of their profession who formed the nucleus of the first iteration of the industry today. Information was the core mission of the early days of local government communication in its formative days after the First World War but its direction became more focussed in the immediate period following the Second World War when a Government renewal programme put the public sector in the centre of this agenda. This set the scene for what developed into a battle of ideologies, with the arrival of Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1979 seeing a major shift towards the neoliberal model prevalent today. That shift inevitably exacerbated the historical battle lines between the centre and local councils and sharpened the influence of public relations as a tool for both sides. The second half of this chapter is then devoted to the authors’ research examining the impact of the current period of austerity (since 2010) on local councils and, in particular, their ability to communicate, inform and consult their electors. That research raises questions as to the accountability of local democracy central to the theme of this book.
