Thank goodness Labour’s ‘shambolic’ plan to reorganise local councils has been paused. What was it thinking? | Polly Toynbee

This misconceived Treasury pet project may have been foisted on the government, but it would have added to voters’ mistrust in politics

Shock reverberated through England’s councils last week. “Beggars belief!” “Shambolic!” council leaders protested to the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), which says: “We’ve never before heard such expletives. They’re apoplectic, incandescent.” And they have every right to be.

The government has slammed the brakes on its unexpected reorganisation of local councils. This almost certainly ends the one-size-fits-all, politically damaging remapping of England’s councils, which was never forewarned in Labour’s manifesto.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist