Politics
Ipswich is governed locally by a two-tier Council System. Ipswich Borough Council fulfils district council functions such as refuse collection, housing and planning and Suffolk County Council provides the County Council services such as transport, education and social services.
Between 1979 and September 2004, Ipswich Borough Council was under Labour control. The town was then governed by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition until May 2011 when it reverted to Labour.
The town is covered by two parliamentary constituencies: Ipswich, which covers about 75% and is represented by Conservative MP Ben Gummer, and Central Suffolk & North Ipswich, which covers the remaining 25% and is represented by Conservative MP Daniel Poulter.
In April 2006 the borough council initiated public discussions about the idea of turning the borough into a unitary authority (Ipswich had constituted a county borough from 1889 to 1974, independent of the administrative county of East Suffolk, and this status was not restored by the Banham/Cooksey Commission in the 1990s). Ipswich, Norwich, Exeter and Oxford united to campaign for unitary authority status for the four towns, hoping to use the window of opportunity presented by the October 2006 Local Government White Paper. In March 2007, it was announced that Ipswich was one of sixteen shortlisted councils and on 25 July 2007, the Secretary of state announced that she was minded to implement the unitary proposal for Ipswich, but that there were 'a number of risks relating to the financial case set out in the proposal', on which she invited Ipswich to undertake further work before a final decision is taken. Early in December plans were thrown into doubt as the Government announced that it had 'delayed' the unitary bids for Ipswich and Exeter. In July 2008 the Boundary Committee announced their preferred option was for a unitary authority covering Ipswich and the south-eastern corner of Suffolk (including Felixstowe).
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