Two weeks ago, the Conservative leader of the county council predicted that a unitary council for Worcestershire, while keeping the local parish and town councils, would save £15m each year.
He bravely broadcast this in local government circles. Figures also produced by the Conservative-run county council show that Worcestershire can call on more than £67m of unspent cash reserves if local councils agreed to merge.
Imagine what that amount of cash could buy. Service cuts would be a thing of the past, schools would have even more teachers and social services would be able to help more elderly people with dedicated care packages. Santa Claus was indeed here!
But, it is not to be. Faced with a rebellion of his local councillors, unbelievably prompted by local Conservative MPs, the Conservative county council leader performed a U-turn of dramatic proportions.
Local Conservative politicians have once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
In the 1990s, they told Whitehall they were being given too much cash and so sent some back. That resulted in cash cuts and lower funding for our local schools then.
Now they have repeated the mistake. Schools and fair funding campaigners must despair.
How can these hypocritical politicians argue for more from Whitehall, while refusing to use the cash held in council coffers or simply wasted?
If fair funding campaigners aren’t outraged by what has happened then one must question what really motivates them.
Let me offer a consistent line of argument that we should all be using. Our county should argue for a fairer funding formula from Whitehall. It should at the same time cut out duplication, excessive administration and reduce bureaucracy and save the estimated £15m a year.
Local politicians should then decide whether to spend it on better services or reduce council tax. Of the £67m in unspent council reserves, £50m should be spent to improve the lives of local people, such as building more affordable homes or replacing schools.
That way, we give local people a better service and we can keep up the pressure for a fairer settlement by demonstrating that locally we have done all we can to help ourselves.