Nottingham city council hits back at Sunak’s ‘letting down residents’ claims

Council leader says Tory austerity cuts have reduced funds by £100m a year for past decade and led to insolvency

Nottingham city council has hit back at Rishi Sunak after the prime minister accused it of “letting down its residents” and claimed the financial difficulties that drove it to effective bankruptcy last year were triggered not by cuts but poor management.

The authority, which issued a section 114 notice in November after deeming it could not deliver a balanced budget, faces possible government intervention. Four English councils have declared insolvency in the past 12 months, two of them Tory-run.