After claiming success in Tower Hamlets and Rotherham, local government minister Marcus Jones has failed to rule out further Whitehall intervention in failing authorities, admitting ‘several' were on the department's watch list.

Giving evidence to a Communities and Local Government Committee inquiry into the use of commissioners in the two councils, Mr Jones suggested the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had a dedicated monitoring unit keeping tabs on councils at risk of failure.