A newspaper headline about the recent TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) report on assets owned by local authorities, which argued that it is 'deeply hypocritical' for councils to hold sizeable asset portfolios at the same time as increasing council tax to protect services, caused a stir. The TPA is right in one sense. Local government is 'asset rich and cash poor'. Collectively, local government holds £170bn of assets. However, there is no 'right' or 'wrong' answer to the question - 'should a council own a fish stall?' In fact, it is the wrong question.
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