Communities secretary Sajid Javid has given a ringing endorsement to unitary local government in a speech to the County Councils Network (CCN) conference.

A week after a CCN-commissioned report claimed full county-based reorganisation could save £2.9bn over five years, the secretary of state told the conference: ‘I think unitary status can be a great model. It certainly seems to be working well in Durham and Wiltshire. And, as we've seen from the CCN reports being published last week, it has the potential to save a lot of money.'