Local government reorganisation

That this House notes that as part of the Devolution and Recovery white paper and in the midst of the biggest crisis since the second world war, this Government wants to plunge councils into the wasteful distraction of top down reorganisations at exactly the time when local authorities should be concentrating all of their efforts on covid recovery; expresses concerns that the impact of redirecting council expenditure away from supporting the most vulnerable people, on local economic recovery and business support will increase poverty and inequalities as further jobs are lost, homeless people are once more put out on the streets and local economic recovery stalls; recognises the significant successes of local government, especially District Councils, in stepping in to manage the local response to covid when central government failed to do so; recognises that every referendum on unitarization has failed to show support; and calls on the Government to recognise that now is not the time to do other than support local councils to continue the work of recovery including moving homeless people into permanent homes, saving jobs and eradicating covid.