Arguments can be easily undermined by branding them ‘conspiracy theory’.

But, conspiracy theories exist because people conspire – if they didn’t we wouldn’t theorise about it. So, here’s the big one for local government: Since 1969, in the deep, dark recesses of Whitehall, kept behind locked doors in a secure vault, there rests a copy of the Redcliffe-Maud report which recommended the creation of 58 unitary authorities across England.