The Government’s Local Government Finance Settlement does nothing to address the funding problems facing local authorities which are at breaking point, including Bristol City Council. Across the country, services like children’s centres, street cleaning, and libraries have been cut as councils have lost 60p out of every £1 in Government funding since 2010. Councils have also have been forced to raise council tax to compensate for these cuts.

Today, I asked the Secretary of State whether he really believed today’s statement would satisfy council leaders and city mayors who are saying that more money is needed to avoid a catastrophic collapse in services. The Government claim that the era of austerity is over, but for local government, this clearly is not yet the case.