Take a look back at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the word that would probably spring to mind immediately is ‘disruption’. With the announcement of the first national lockdown at the end of March last year, many of the ways in which we used to live and work were turned upside down virtually overnight. Local authorities were no exception to this, and over the past 12 months town halls up and down the country have pulled out all the stops to adapt new ways of delivering the vital services that our residents depend on.

But while it’s true that much has changed since the pandemic began, there are a few places where not a lot has changed at all. One of these seems to be the UK Treasury. No matter how much our Prime Minister or chancellor tries to deny it, all the signs point towards the false logic of austerity remaining alive and well in the corridors of power.