District councils have criticised the lack of evidence behind the Government's push for new unitaries with populations of at least 500,000.

The District Councils' Network (DCN) claimed the ‘only source of evidence' cited by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as supporting its 500,000 figure was an ‘out of date' PwC report from 2020, which was commissioned by the County Councils' Network.