Over 100 Liberal Democrat councillors from across the East Midlands have signed a letter to the Secretary of State for Local Government, Robert Jenrick MP, calling for a halt to controversial Government plans to abolish Borough and District Councils across the region and replace them with larger Unitary authorities.

There's been an angry reaction to the decision last Friday by the Leicestershire Conservative County Council's decision to press on with one Unitary authority for all of Leicestershire. This would mean the abolition of the seven district and Boroughs in the county. The meeting supported Tory council leader Nick Rushton writing to the government on behalf of the county council to signal to government their wish to press on with one unitary authority for the county.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an extension of the Government's furlough scheme until the jobs market is "ready to bounce back" in the wake of "staggering job losses" across the country.

With 37,500 people now relying on Universal Credit in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland the Party claims that extending furlough would help "stop this crisis getting even worse" and protect jobs for the future.