Actions will speak louder than words on tackling the cost of living crisis

The campaign is over the votes have been cast and Conservative Party members have elected a new leader, in Liz Truss, who is also now the UK Prime Minister. The first 100 days for any new leader often set the tone for the remainder of their term of office. With multiple crises requiring urgent action in advance of winter, it will be telling for the longer term to see if local government features as a trusted vehicle to help develop and deliver effective policy solutions in the coming months.

With issues such as cost of living, the impact of inflation, climate, housing and social care at the forefront of peoples minds it would appear to be incoherent to think that significant progress can be made without the full engagement and deployment of local councils in tackling these.

Yet we know that the last decade has seen severe budget cuts and under investment in councils to the point where they are having huge difficulty in sustaining existing day-to-day services. Add to that major supply and service cost inflation and the scope for additional action becomes extremely limited. Services which have faced year-on-year of continuous cuts are now being asked to absorb major inflationary cost increases in supplies, materials, energy, fuel and staffing. One Council from Southern England I spoke to recently is expecting its energy bill to rise from £1m per annum to £4m.

There has also been some messaging during the leadership campaign around capital spend and whilst this type of infrastructure investment is needed a number of councils are concerned about the conditions imposed on spending pots. Stories are emerging of grant-based capital projects with cost rises in excess of 10 per cent (before a shovel hits the ground) requiring local authorities to either find additional funding from their dwindling reserves or hand back the grant because they simply cannot complete within deadlines set by Government.

Turning back to revenue, this winter it would appear that families will be forced to make some really tough choices on what they spend their household income on; many will turn to councils for support. Councils have infrastructure in place that can supply warm meals in schools, in addition to community assets where they can allow people to access warm zones, the internet or advice. Yet funding is urgently required on the frontline of local government now to make the necessary preparations.

When Governments come into power, they often talk the language of devolution and localism, then centralise ever more. The Government, now led by Liz Truss, and its view of local government, will be defined by its actions in the coming months.