My SOLACE colleagues and 1 did not really expect the chancellor to throw local government a lifeline in the Spring Statemenl but it was nevertheless disappointing not to see any recognition of the urgency of our situation.Anyone familiar with my past writing will know that I've been warning for some time now that the status quo cannot hold in the face on ongoing austerity, demographic change and technological advancement, let alone a seismic shifting development like Brexit. The National Audit Office's (NAO) latest report on the financial sustainability of local authorities should have been a wake-up call for Government that they cannot maintain the pretence that everything is fine and as it always was.
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