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Local government was told it would be given "a fair deal" under a Conservative government.

Shadow deputy prime minister David Davis said, if elected, the Conservatives would conduct a major review of local government finance to give councils the freedom to spend money "to meet their constituents' needs, not Whitehall's demands".

"Across our public services, bureaucracy is out of control," he told delegates. "Local councils don't work if they have to cope with 600 inspection reports and 3,000 reviews."


Davis pledged that the Conservatives would fundamentally change the way public services were organised, increasing choice and accountability.

He said regional assemblies - Labour's plans for more local control - would mean "the end of real local government".