Labour’s gamble with local government

Councils’ financial woes are not only caused by a lack of organisational efficiency but are driven by a vicious cycle of rising demand for services (namely housing and social care) and the scars of ten years of deep austerity.

Since Northamptonshire ’s collapse in 2018 , seven councils have declared bankruptcy.

Northamptonshire County Council took the unprecedented decision to abolish itself in August 2018 .

The council was drowning in debt and had been forced to take an axe to local services.

Earlier that year it had become the first local authority in two decades to declare itself bankrupt.

Re-organising local government without a root and branch operation will only cause more problems than it already has.