The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has been forced to defend its communications spending after Eric Pickles again lashed out at ‘town hall Pravdas'.

Labour turned the spotlight on the money paid to Hootsuite Media by DCLG for a ‘social media monitoring tool' after Mr Pickles argued newspapers should not face ‘unfair taxpayer-funded competition' in his speech to the Local Government Association last week.