Cockell on council and local government budgets and cuts

Councils in England and Wales have "run out of money and the system is bust", said the head of the Local Government Association.

Sir Merrick Cockell said grants had been cut by 42%, with millions more still to be cut from budgets, and he suggested councils and Whitehall had to move away from their current "parent-child relationship".

Local government minister Brandon Lewis said councils have got money - and were sitting on £19bn of reserves - and he called on them to be "more innovative and more effective".

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