I fear we’re soon to see councils going bankrupt one after another starting next year.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Jeremy Hunt has been warned he will trigger a fire sale of public assets, reduce councils to an emergency service and put the vulnerable at greater risk after an autumn statement pointing to a new wave of austerity.

Once settlements for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are taken into account, non-protected government departments in England face an annual cut of 3.4% for five years.

Sir Bob Neill, the Tory MP who chairs the Commons justice select committee, said that there was a case for “revisiting which departments should be given protection” from spending cuts.

One senior Tory said: “The Treasury is fully aware that some flagship blue counties are right on the edge: falling over just before the election won’t look good.”

“The risk is that the revolving door of people committing crime going back into prison, costing the taxpayer a huge amount of money, simply continues.”

He added: “Whatever the outcome of the next election, it is clear there is much to do to get education back on track following a hugely disruptive pandemic and a decade dominated by funding cuts.”

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