Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to merge local authorities with a low council tax base with neighbouring higher base councils to ensure financial sustainability and service provision.

The Government has no plans to make local authorities merge with one another. However, the Government has been clear that it will listen to proposals made by local authorities for reform that lead to more effective governance arrangements.

We are making huge strides towards rebalancing the economy and empowering local government through the devolution of powers away from Whitehall. The strength of the devolution agenda is in its localist nature: local leaders know best what their area needs and we are committed to giving them the tools to drive growth.

The Government will undertake a review to devise a new formula to assess councils’ needs and provide fair funding for every type of local authority, ahead of the introduction of 100% business rates retention by the end of this Parliament.