Implementing the same level of cuts to local government in the next five years as seen in the last Parliament would be ‘utterly wrong’, Lord Kerslake has warned.

Speaking at The MJ Future Forum today, the former permanent secretary at the Department of Communities and Local Government urged the next government not to ‘rerun the record’.

In a frank speech, Lord Kerslake said: ‘If you carry on you run out of ground by 2020.  You have to think about the task differently in a very broad-based way.

‘The 2010 spending review was a fairly crude process. I think 2015 offers the opportunity to do something bigger and more fundamental.

‘We’re in for an uncertain time.’

Lord Kerslake admitted the unintended effect of the Government’s policies had been to hit the most deprived authorities the hardest but defended communities secretary Eric Pickles’ record on localism, pointing to the local retention of business rates and growth deals among other policies.