Campaigning Drains Local Governance Capacity

National parties and broadcasters treat municipal contests as national referendums, mobilizing MPs, money and media to fight ward‑level battles. That diversion leaves councils under‑resourced to manage statutory responsibilities while local accountability fades because citizens lack independent local reporting and the issues become nationalized. — If true, this dynamic explains why local services suffer and why voters cannot hold the right actors to account — shifting the locus of reform from councils to party and media incentives in Westminster.