Commenting on David Miliband's announcement of more powers for communities, Liberal Democrat local government spokesperson Sarah Teather said:
"Mr Miliband's new mantra of 'double devolution' is all spin and no substance."
"With one hand he is stripping local government of its powers, regionalising our police and fire services, and restructuring councils to make them more distant from the people.
"With the other, he is offering half-baked notions of power to local quangos and boards, bypassing any notion of accountability except to the distant secretary of state.
"Communities must be given more power, but these proposals will not deliver it. Devolution without democracy is just tyranny on a local scale."
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