Warm words mean nothing when frontline staff are snubbed

摘要

As The MJ goes to press, we are yet to hear the results of the chancellor's Spending Review, but speculation on the content has filled many a column inch over the past days. The single year review is not what local government finance experts would have wished for - and it is unlikely we will see any great reprieve for councils teetering on the edge of the fiscal cliff- but there is plenty more to occupy local government. A plan to re-write the Green Book is a fiscal reform that has long been called for. The Government's commitment to levelling up needs to start with a financial strategy that doesn't judge the North as a second class investment.