Unitary reforms stopped North Yorkshire Council from almost going bankrupt

This preceded the creation of the York and North Yorkshire mayoralty, with the two reforms fundamentally changing local government across the county.

Now, the Government has asked all other 21 two-tier areas to copy North Yorkshire’s lead and submit plans to reorganise, which led to nine areas cancelling local elections.

Local officials have hailed the changes as an “absolute lifesaver” for the council, and said this move is a “no brainer” for the Treasury.

Speaking ahead of next year’s budget being discussed at full council next week, North Yorkshire’s Corporate Director of Resources said the reorganisation would save £60 million next year.

“From a financial perspective, it's been an absolute lifesaver for the council at dealing with some of those internal pressures,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“You see lots of councils with bankruptcy warnings. We are not in that situation, and we're not because of the local government reorganisation opportunities that we've had.”

He explained that the council was able to save money with “less management, less systems and smarter procurement”.

Mr Fielding said that teams were able to target areas like housing and adult social care better under one organisation.

Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner’s reforms have faced criticism from opposition politicians.

Shadow Communities Secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: “Contrary to the Deputy Prime Minister’s statement, she is not doing away with a two-tier system, she is simply creating a new tier of Orwellian-sounding strategic authorities which are closer to her and closer to Whitehall.

“These are for her to use as a pawn to implement this Government’s deeply unpopular socialist agenda. The reality is that this is delegation, not devolution. Not devolution but a clear centralisation.”

However, previously Mr Hollinrake, who is also the MP for Thirsk and Malton, praised the reorganisation of North Yorkshire Council.

And Mr Fielding said that this was a “no brainer” for the Government.

“If you can make billions of pounds worth of savings in the long term, to me it's an absolute no brainer.

“The Treasury team has got to grapple with the politics of it, but if they've got the stomach for all the politics, it's difficult to see how it makes bad news.”

While the Tory council leader Coun Carl Les added: “What has been proven since unitarisation, is that not only was it the right thing to do, in terms of increasing efficiency, reducing duplication, reducing confusion amongst the public, it has also saved money.”