Braintree Council should be axed to save money, according to its own leader.

Graham Butland (Con) believes the council, as well as Essex’s other 11 district and borough councils, two unitary authorities and the county council, should be scrapped and replaced with two unitary councils - one for north and one for south Essex.

Mr Butland, speaking following the announcement Braintree Council was preparing to make a further £1.5million in cuts, admitted the ambitious restructure would be costly in the short-term and result in large-scale job losses.

However, he claimed it would save huge sums in the long-term and remove confusion about which services are dealt with by which council.