The Government is apparently filled with presumptions, if the local government finance settlement is anything to go by, or at the very least the Treasury is awash with optimists.

The finance settlement assumes councils will, largely, raise council tax as much as they can. It presumes – on the advice of the OBR – that business rate appeals will go down after revaluation. And it assumes the economy is going to go from strength-to-strength. Wasn't the selling point of our current political masters a narrative to claim we couldn't trust the other lot because they didn't see the financial collapse coming?