Communities secretary Sajid Javid has held out an olive branch to local government in the aftermath of his disastrous speech to the Local Government Association conference speech last week. 

The secretary of state was highly criticised for his speech in Birmingham after he claimed there was a ‘crisis of confidence' in local government. Head of the LGA's Labour group, Cllr Nick Forbes described it as a ‘shameful attempt to place the failings of one authority at the feet of the whole sector'.