The curious interregnum between the end of one premiership and the beginning of another pervaded the mood at the recent Local Government Association conference in Bournemouth.

Past and present leadership candidates – and from more than one party – were on display. Secretary of state James Brokenshire hinted at what he would have liked to have announced about some greater short-term financial certainty and floated the prospect of a Green Paper exploring the local government ‘ecosystem'. And yet, as he acknowledged, everyone knows that all of this is on hold until a new Prime Minister and a new ministerial team is established.