The threat of government intervention still hangs over Hull council this week as the opposition Labour group rejected an action plan aimed at turning around services at the town hall.
Hull councillors have unanimously agreed to the plan, an Audit Commission requirement, but the Labour group threatened to call for a hit squad itself. Drawn up by council managing director Jim Brooks, the plan requires leaders of the council and opposition to sit on a special change management board that could drive through improvements and the demolition of up to 15,000 homes across tenures.

But Labour, which was in power until May, has refused to take part. A Labour group meeting this week discussed the “Armageddon option” of asking the government to intervene because it claimed council leaders could not be trusted.