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This paper analyzes a UK polity that is characterized by fragmentation, differentiation, and decentered governance which is evident at multiple layers of public policy and administration. The development of devolved governments as well as ongoing debates around regional and local governance have created increasingly fragmented places. The intensification of policies associated with the new public management has fragmented the provision of public services. And the absence of a common approach to professional development has led to growing fragmentation of public service workers from different professions and sectors. We argue that these trends reflect many of the aspects of an advanced or late-stage new public governance. This is ripe territory for further research and demonstrates that UK public administration continues to have much to offer to international scholars. It also raises important questions about what forms of public administration might emerge next.

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While Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats continue to dominate local and national politics, recent decades have also seen non-mainstream politics make inroads into votes and seats in English local government. The paper explores Independent politics and politicians and examines the motivations that encourage those that are not members of the three main national political parties to stand for local elected office. Findings suggest that while this group shows a distinct local and representative ethos that is -one might argue -weaker in their party-affiliated counterparts, the world of Independent politics is diverse and situation-specific. 1