It’s been another difficult week for local government. Birmingham City Council announced it needs to make up to 600 redundancies to help balance its books and Middlesbrough Council decided to apply to the Government for £15m of emergency funding to avoid effective bankruptcy. Also this week new figures have been released showing just how much debt some local authorities hold. And it’s a lot.

Since 2021 there have been six councils which have declared themselves effectively bankrupt. Given the responsibilities of local government that feels serious for many of us.

So what are the financial pressures facing councils and why?

David Aaronovitch is joined by the following experts:

Production team: Nick Holland, Kirsteen Knight and Charlotte McDonald