In the lead up to the budget there was coverage of an initiative from chancellor George Osborne confirming the Government wanted to make public-sector pay more responsive to the local pay of people.

This provoked quite a reaction from trade unions and others, who saw this as negatively affecting millions of public-sector workers in the regions. This was probably heightened by the constant 'attacks' and attempts to discredit local government in particular – especially given it is local government that has delivered the greatest reduction in public-service budgets and sustained a 28% cut in government grants over the past two years.