Has local government lost the battle for public support over cuts? As The MJ and LGiU’s finance survey last week provoked a media storm over council tax rises, commentators queued up to exhibit their wisdom. It has to be said, there were varying degrees of ‘wisdom’.

Much of the commentary on our survey – and the previous week’s financial failure at Northamptonshire – was simplistic and dumbed down, expressed by political pundits from outside local government with no real grasp of the scale of the problems within council budgets.