Local government has been urged to stop pretending transformation will solve the massive underfunding it faces, according to two leading local government players.
Speaking exclusively to The MJ, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy chief executive, Rob Whiteman, and chief executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Martin Reeves, launched a dramatic call for a sector-wide debate on the future of local government.
Mr Reeves claimed the sector’s denial of the financial picture was tantamount to lying.
He said: ‘Let’s expose some of those myths out there about alleged solutions to those problems when what is staring us in the face is the underfunding.’
Click here to read the full interviews and for analysis of the claims (£).