As the Johnson Government continues to grapple with partygate scandals and leadership rival speculation, the policy world has ground to a standstill. The now near-mythical levelling up White Paper has been pencilled in for release so often, you can only imagine the departmental pencil is now barely more than a stub.

But as Westminster whips itself up into yet another political frenzy, it is little more than fiddling while Rome burns. There is a crisis awaiting the country, and local government will, once again, have to pick up the pieces.