Quiet council revolution that could cost taxpayers

Rayner's local authority shake-up is coming under scrutiny

- SEAN O'GRADY

Much discussion is being had, once again, about the deputy prime minister's personal finances and her private life, but of rather more consequence is surely the way she has been handling the much less interesting topic of local government reorganisation. Astonishingly, it seems that her department has failed to do its own cost-benefit analysis of the current quiet revolution in England’s local authorities.

The upshot is that, instead of delivering the expected efficiency savings, the reorganisation - the fifth major shakeup in the past half-century or so - will actually cost the taxpayer more than leaving things alone.

What went wrong?