The next government needs to provide a ‘strategic direction’ for councils currently operating in a ‘very messy and muddled policy environment,’ a think-tank boss has urged.

Chief executive of right-of-centre think-tank Localis, Liam Booth-Smith, said central government needed to ‘make the decisions only it can make’.

He said: ‘Local government is operating in a very messy and muddled policy environment – from integration to mental health, to housebuilding, to economic growth.

‘Central government needs to set a strategic direction, be clear about what it wants to achieve and then put in place the policy mechanisms that will allow councils and others to deliver.’

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