Andy Burnham Today's local elections matter, but the campaigns have missed the real issues

HOW many Tories does it take a fill a pothole? Four — including an elected Mayor and Prime Minister

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That was the message seemingly sent out by surely the most bizarre photocall of the 2023 local election campaign.

I am certain the Tory spin doctors set it up to try to convey the sense that the Prime Minister is in touch with grassroots issues.

Another, less charitable interpretation of the image of four men staring at a hole in a road in Darlington — including the most powerful person in the land — is that it finally provided proof that English councils have been hollowed out to such an extent that even potholes are now a prime ministerial issue.

If national government cared about local government — and truly respected it — we would be living in a more functional country where more could be done at a local level and the fabric of local communities would be in a better state.

But it doesn’t and we don’t. Ever since the Eighties, local government in England has been in demise. Whitehall distrust of “loony” local councils led to their powers being whittled away, particularly over areas like education. In the last decade, their spending power has shrunk dramatically.