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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.