More than 60 years ago, Harold Wilson made one of the most rousing political speeches of the 20th century on the ‘white heat of technology' and what the pace of change meant for industry. Zooming forwards to earlier this month, current Prime Minister Keir Starmer arguably delivered his own version of that set-piece when he declared the current era of artificial intelligence (AI) could ‘usher in a golden age of public service reform'.

But can local government – just one arm of public services – rise to the challenge and deliver on the potential of this supposed new dawn? Reacting to what it called ‘a burst of positivity' from the PM, the Institute for Government says it will become clearer whether this translates into a ‘real commitment to make AI central to this government's missions and milestones'.