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Review reactions Eric Pickles, communities secretary: ‘This settlement and the major reforms… will together allow us to wrest power away from Whitehall and end the era of inefficient regional bureaucracy as we make good our commitment to devolve power and decision-making to councils and local communities.' Baroness Margaret Eaton, LGA chairman: ‘Councils will do all they can to minimise the effect of these cuts, and will build on their record of delivering new and better ways of doing things.' Paul O'Brien, APSE chief executive: ‘Local government services appear to be the hardest hit, and yet the coalition government has promised a wave of new localism giving councils and local communities more freedom to decide how local services are delivered. Without adequate resources, this is turning into Hobson's choice.' Dave Prentis, Unison chief executive: ‘Councils are being squeezed from all sides. Something has to give, and it will end up being people that rely on services who suffer.' Andy Sawford, LGiU chief executive: ‘Many people in local government will feel gloomy today because of the impact on services, communities and jobs, but tomorrow we have to roll up our sleeves and work out how we are going to do the best in incredibly-challenging circumstances.' Cllr Colin Barrow, Westminster City Council leader: ‘None of us want to cut frontline services, but if councils pool their resources and expertise, and bring the public sector together under one roof, people really can get more for less from local government.' Steve Robinson, Cheshire West and Chester Council chief executive: ‘When the results of the formula spending announcement are known – probably the first week in December – we will go away and carefully study the fine detail before making any decisions. There will be no knee-jerk reaction.' Cllr David Parsons, leader of Leicestershire CC said: ‘Problem families have a major impact on public services from education to social care through to the criminal justice system. The resources spent by a range of public bodies in dealing with these families have been growing and, when the financial pot shrinks, we need to find another way.'

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WHITEHALL

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