Harry Fone: Sheffield City Council employs 24 press officers

Residents want low taxes and regular bin collections, not big PR budgets and regular spin.

Ian Lewis: The Conservatives must not give up on Manchester, or Sheffield, or Liverpool…

Our message, and our approach to the issues in the cities, needs to be improved.

Damian Flanagan: What drives the Conservatives’ underlying problems? For answers, ponder our exile from the cities of the north.

The Party cannot be one of the South and of the countryside if it is to engage with voters – and to win.

Local elections 3) The contest with the Lib Dems – their revival has come far more at the expense of the Conservatives than of Labour

The Lib Dems have made net gains of 400 seats, so far.

Selections. Five more seats and the first ‘team seats’ open for applications.

Bath, Bishop Auckland, Bristol North West, Peterborough, and Wirral West are seeking candidates, as are several northern cities.

Multi-member council wards should be abolished

Smaller electoral areas with just one councillor each would make for less confusion, more accountability – and fewer one party states.

Lewis Baston: The Conservative local election landslide of 1968

How a unique combination of Heath and Powell saw the Tories swept to power from Sheffield to Lambeth.

Kevin Hollinrake: Teesside offers a positive example of devolution that Yorkshire could follow

In the third piece in our three-part mini-series, the Thirsk and Malton MP explores how the North East might help the One Yorkshire dream to come true.

In the elections for the “metropolitan boroughs” the Conservatives have little to lose – which is why the focus will be on Trafford

The second part of our series this week on May’s elections, moving on to the metropolitan areas that are electing in thirds.

Will Labour be punished in Sheffield for chopping down thousands of healthy trees?

Ultimately it is the responsibility of the people of that city to vote to halt the ecological vandalism taking place on a huge scale.

Councils should privatise debt collection

A less bureaucratic approach will ease hardship and bring more money in. But the Government also needs to ensure equal rules apply for all that are owed money.

Anand Menon: May is arming her Party to challenge Labour in its heartlands

CCHQ is recruiting campaign managers to fight in areas Labour has long taken for granted.

Spencer Pitfield: We musn’t avert our eyes from the grinding reality of poverty in Britain

Sadly, it was not uncommon to see people arrive in court who had stolen in order to get the food that they and their family needed to survive.

Jonathan Glanz: Mayoral devolution risks letting our cities fail

Wales has shown Labour failure and a lack of true accountability.

Andrew Kennedy: The urban and northern challenge for our new Party Chairman, Patrick McLoughlin

If we are to be a truly national Party, we must have in place a structure which enables us to hear, absorb and reflect the views of the entire United Kingdom.