The message from last week’s front page was as blunt as they come: local government must stop lying about its financial problems and give up pretending transformation will solve the massive underfunding it faces. The sector has to be ‘brave’ and answer some tough questions on its future.

Coming from a pair of senior leaders in the sector, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy chief executive Rob Whiteman and West Midlands Combined Authority chief executive Martin Reeves, the emphatic call for action naturally sparked a wide-ranging round of responses from key local government figures.