The new Government's first 100 days have not been much of a honeymoon period so far. It has faced headlines on the race riots that engulfed much of the UK, bringing the Prime Minister home from holiday. Front pages have made various allegations of Labour cronyism; and public finances are, according to the chancellor, £20bn worse than expected leading Sir Keir Starmer to inform the nation during a sunny August bank holiday, that things will ‘get worse' before they get better. Not quite as catchy as the original D:Ream hit.

Now the busy, truncated summer recess is over, the Government must try to get to grips with a myriad of complex policy and political conundrums. One of the biggest challenges it faces is local government funding – not only to ensure the viability of the sector but because the Government's stated priorities around growth cannot be achieved without sustainable local government. To assist that effort, in the middle of July, we brought together more than 60 chief executives and leaders for LGIU's Saving Local Government Summit to discuss the future of local government and how the new Government could begin to address the acute funding crisis.