Failure to fix council funding crisis threatens Tory election pledge, adviser warns

Andy Haldane, government's top levelling-up adviser, calls for urgent rethink to prevent deeper cuts across England

The government's top levelling-up adviser has warned ministers that failure to tackle the funding crisis for councils across England is threatening one of the Conservatives' flagship 2019 election promises.

Andy Haldane, the chair of the government's levelling-up advisory council, said a root and branch rethink" of local authority funding was urgently required to prevent a fresh round of ever-deeper cuts to local services.