Surrey County Council effectively issued a profit warning months ago. There is the threat of a Commissioner coming in to take over.  The Conservative leadership is aware but not inspiring confidence that it can transform things sufficiently. It is locked in its statutory and Party political straightjacket. Central government steadily reduces financial support. 

But central government is itself broken down leaving a need for Surrey leadership to draw up a plan to streamline all-Surrey and concentrate management and financial resources into a smaller structure. Project managed implementation should immediately follow. 

Government malaise is seen when a local borough cannot decide on important matters when the next Council meeting is three months away;  when Surrey CC is insolvent and near bankruptcy; when the top Civil Service is described as ‘Victorian’ and the Treasury  accounting practices date from the XVth century.