It was inevitable that a row about whose responsibility it is for service cuts – local or central government – would surface, once the full implication of last month's settlement on individual budgets was clear.
It was also obvious the dark arts of media spinning would come into play. The coalition's approach is to pass the buck to local government under the guise of localism. So all cuts are, therefore, a local issue, and ministers are mere bystanders who have devolved powers and can, therefore, not be blamed for what ensues. Fair enough. Councils back localism, accept they are having to shoulder a large burden of deficit-reduction, and agree it is up to them how they make difficult decisions about priorities.
