01184pab a2200169 454500 180718b2002 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Lowndes, Vivien Between rhetoric and reality: does the 2001 white paper reverse the centralising trend in Britain 2002 p.135-47. Autumn This article assesses the government's claim that the White Paper, Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services (2001), reverses the centralising trend of the previous 20 years. It is argued that the `confessions and concessions' of the White Paper do not actually represent a reduction of centralism or any enhancement of local government autonomy. where controls are relaxed, these are primarily managerial rather than political; delivery rather than democracy is the primary focus of attention. Increasingly sophisticated approaches to performance management signal both a new form of centralism and a challenge to the traditional bilateral model of central-local relations. - Reproduced. Local government - Great Britain Local government Local Government Studies 54681 54681 54681 0 0 0 0 IIPA IIPA 2018-07-19 Volume no: 28, Issue no: 3 AR55126 2018-07-19 2018-07-19 AR