Council budget chiefs have suffered a dramatic loss of confidence in their financial positions amid fresh evidence that town halls will be unable to meet statutory duties by the end of this Parliament.

As town hall leaders gathered in Bournemouth for the Local Government Association's (LGA) annual conference, Smith Square and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) separately released arguably their bleakest assessments of local government's finances since the start of austerity.