It has been a barely concealed secret across Whitehall for several weeks now, yet news that ministers and officials at Eland House have been forced to ‘war game' potential in-year cuts to council grants still smarts like a fresh wound.

So, it's likely that, within the more important confines of town and county halls, this week's front page news story will be as popular as an atheist republican at a Jubilee Pageant recital of the national anthem in St Paul's.