In all the detailed analysis of who voted for what and why in last week’s referendum little attention was paid to the views of the public sector, let alone local government. Yet, considering there are 5.7m employees working across the UK public sector of which 2.2m are in local government, and that a slim majority – rising to 95% at senior level according to a recent The MJ/Penna poll of council chief executives – will have backed Remain, their impact will have been considerable. It may indeed explain why Scotland, with its higher level of public spending, rejected Brexit.

Nonetheless, while the public sector did not support Brexit it is still directly affected by the result while local government, with its democratic mandate, is right in the firing line in three areas; the first is economic, the second political, the third social, the place-leading and community cohesion role, and the fourth concerns the impact of Brexit negotiations on local authority services.