Latest editorial
Councils warn of looming bankruptcy wave
BAD NEWS: Jeremy Hunt
COUNCILS across England are lurching towards bankruptcy because of government cuts, two surveys found yesterday.
The risk of bankruptcy is escalating after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement, which made no provision for local authorities to cope with rising inflation.
A survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that 20 per cent of council leaders and chief executives believe it likely that they will have to legally declare they cannot balance their books over the next year.
More from this author
Incredibly, US Republican states are systematically dismantling child labour protections, with children transformed back into the cheap, disposable workers of the Dickens era, reports ANDREW MURRAY
ANDREW MURRAY casts an eye over past upheavals and asks whether the left can find a fire escape before the world goes up in flames
But Business Secretary downplays prospect of full nationalisation and declines to extend emergency assistance to Port Talbot or Grangemouth
