Offering a clear, concise, and highly original account of the effects of spending and other restrictions imposed on local authorities in the second half of the 20th century, this book discusses an important political period in the United Kingdom’s history. Demonstrating that, despite what governments say, decisions to cut public expenditure are matters of choice founded in the ideological dogma of neo-liberalism rather than economic necessity, this account argues that a clear analogy can be made between past and present government policy and practice.