> Councils expanded the number of SEND pupils eligible for free school transport, increasing spending from £9m to £20m - how is that being poor?

Because the money is sucked out of the council coffers and they then can't provide a lot of the basics. It's not an improvement in quality for people who are, for instance, not SEND pupils. The point being that more and more expenses like this appear each year and then the budget is gone when it comes to looking after the library, fixing potholes etc, Small every day things that make the country look and feel like it's functioning are ignored until everywhere just feels a bit grim and broken.

I'm interested to see what Labour have in store for local government reform overall. Where I live will be affected since I'm just into Derbyshire and they're consolidating all boroughs into unitary authorities, which I'm in favour of since I have four tiers of local government where I live.

I hope this will just be the first step.