Chancellor Rachel Reeves may be starting to uncover the depth of the financial problems facing central government, but as yet she has not come up with a plan for rapidly unravelling local government finances.

Southampton City Council's financial problems would, at one point, have been big news in the sector. Now they are just one of many struggling. Nonetheless, their financial position is dire. The council has had to take on £120m in exceptional financial support (EFS) to deal with the £40m budget gap, a hefty equal pay bill and to fund transformation costs.