The contribution that local government makes to the country is often ‘overlooked' and Westminster politicians should show more gratitude for the work being done by councillors, according to Greg Clark.

Writing in his blog for ConservativeHome, Mr Clark said local government is setting the pace for working within spending constraints, and the ‘fight to rebalance the nation's books' needs to be won in town and county halls.

He said: ‘Central government has much to learn from local government and its important that it does so. Through new measures like the City Deals programme, we need to give councils a much stronger right of initiative – giving them a full say in the devolution of resources and responsibility.

'After all the fundamental mistakes of the previous decade, a little humility on the part of Westminster and Whitehall is surely in order – as is a little gratitude to those far beyond SW1 who are putting things right.'

He added that councils are managing to achieve savings by reducing overheads and bureaucracy, while protecting frontline services.