Amid current claims of government dithering and a vacuum at the centre, the announcement last December by Angela Rayner to forge ahead with local government reorganisation (LGR) stands out as a beacon of decisiveness. Sir Humphrey would have put it differently, calling it ‘a courageous decision, minister' – one that was likely to bring up a heap of problems.
And so it has come to pass. Sir Geoffrey-Clifton-Brown, Conservative chair of the Public Accounts Committee in his recent annual report stated: ‘A particular concern I have this year is that Government is embarking on wholesale local government reorganisation at a time when, for a variety of reasons, most local authorities are under significant financial strain. Government's wish to abolish district and borough councils and merge them with county councils to form larger unitary authorities risks turning existing financial problems into far larger ones.'
