http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-42925660
Nick Golding, editor of the Local Government Chronicle, said as many as ten other councils could soon take measures similar to those implemented in Northamptonshire.
"Council spending power has fallen by almost half this decade; it's been a really, really difficult time for councils and there haven't been any sensible conversations about how you can provide the funding for social care and children's services, in particular, in the years to come," he said.
"No-one seems to be able to face up to the fact that the current local government finance system isn't working. The danger is that councils will only provide an absolute bare minimum in the years to come."
Oh and this is interesting, the Tory council has a Section 114 (ban from new expenditure) placed on it. Heather Smith, Conservative council leader, said it was the "perfect storm" of increases in demand for services and reductions in government funding. "We did warn that we would become unsustainable," she said. "We have been warning government from about 2013/14 that, with our financial position, we couldn't cope with the levels of cuts we were facing."
Perhaps only the home counties get the sweetheart "magic money tree" deals when their Tory council leaders kick-off. 