So how was it for you? The Conservative Party Conference, that is. Did you, as a senior local government executive, feel the party and its ministers appeared grateful for the way you have managed 30% spending cuts since 2011, thereby helping them meet at least some of their deficit targets?Did Eric Pickles stand up and sing your praises to thunderous applause? Did the chancellor promise to spread the burden of the remaining 50% of spending cuts more evenly in the next Parliament so that local government does not carry the lion's share? And, if the answer to all these questions was in the negative, are you the least surprised?Let's start with deficit reduction. Chancellor George Osborne's speech on the second day of the conference did not duck the unpalatable fact that austerity continues or as he put it 'we will finish the job we have started.'
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