THERESA MAY dodged questions today on whether the collapse of Northamptonshire’s Tory-run council was a result of local or national government incompetence.

The Prime Minister twice failed to answer Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as he used Prime Minister’s Questions to raise concerns over the local authority’s effective bankruptcy.

At the start of February the cash-strapped council had to ban almost all new spending for 2017-18.

Amid the recriminations, council leader Heather Smith resigned last week and a government report found the situation to be so dire that it recommended a clean slate and the formation of two new unitary councils.

Ms May claimed that a look at councils up and down the country showed “Conservative councils cost you less.”

Mr Corbyn pointed out that she had failed to answer his question even though it “was quite specific.”

Mr Corbyn turned attention to Barnet Council, which the Tories lost control of this week, and its similarity to the case of Northamptonshire.

He said that outsourcing company Capita had been holding contracts worth £500 million with Barnet and that it had cut spending on staff every year while increasing spending on consultants.

Northamptonshire County Council had outsourced 96 per cent of staff, Mr Corbyn added.

Ms May claimed that Northamptonshire’s collapse was “not a case of underfunding,” suggesting that it was the council’s fault.

But yesterday, shadow local government and communities secretary Andrew Gwynne told MPs at a Westminster Hall debate that the council “took the advice of former secretary of state Sir Eric Pickles, who said rather than complaining about cuts, spend your reserves.”

At PMQs, Mr Corbyn said that councils in England are facing a £5.8 billion funding gap by 2020, and pointed out that even the Tory head of the Local Government Association has said the situation is unsustainable.

He asked: “Does the Prime Minister really believe that the slash-and-burn model for local government is really a good one?”

Ms May claimed that Tory-run councils cost residents less money, to which Mr Corbyn replied that residents actually “pay more for less” in services and local upkeep.

After PMQs, Labour released its analysis of official council tax figures for 2017-18. It showed that residents living in Labour councils pay much lower council tax bills on average than those living in Tory-run areas.

For residents in every type of authority area they are paying less under Labour, varying from an average of £171 less in London borough councils to £289 less in unitary authority areas.