Well, this is fun, isn't it? As 2024 drew to a close we had the early Christmas presents of a Devolution White Paper and the draft sector settlement. And, in response, a flurry of articles arguing that reorganisation into larger unitary authorities and re-distribution of grants, were both bad ideas. These critiques were largely the sophistry of vested interests and/or academic naivety – entertaining perhaps, but shedding little light.

On reorganisation, I wrote in my October column that I expected to see the number of councils fall during this Parliament, though not as the result of a ‘big bang' approach. Despite the secretary of state's invitations, I still don't expect all two-tier areas to have unitarised by 2029 – progress will depend upon degrees of local reticence and the Government's view of the proposals it receives. I think we will see pragmatism on both sides, with the Government preferring to work with the grain of local propositions, where possible.