THE leader of a council serving more than 600,000 people has spoken of his optimism that the next prime minister will plough more funding into areas facing severe financial pressures.

In a statement to a full meeting of the Conservative-run North Yorkshire County Council, Councillor Carl Les said he had tried to establish both Tory leadership candidates’ positions on key issues affecting the county.

He said: “It is encouraging that both have replied positively about the role of local government, and indicated that more investment must be made in areas we have been championing for some time, namely funding for adult social care, schools and special educational needs and disabilities, together with commitments made to improve the A64.

“At the time of writing this we can only wait to see who is elected, and then what early steps they take to deal with matters other than Brexit, which has consumed so much of government time in recent months.”

He added it would be interesting to see what ministerial appointments are made, as for the most of the last administration, all North Yorkshire MPs had government positions and raised the council’s concerns with ministers and officials.