Local government decamped to the seaside last week for the Local Government Association (LGA)conference in Bournemouth. Despite the genteel surroundings, the conference itself was fairly robust. The LGA seems to have rediscovered its campaigning mojo recently.

New research that it released on the eve of the conference underlined the parlous state of local government finance and the profoundly negative impact of uncertainty over how it will be funded next year. That is a familiar story, but it cannot be repeated too often.