So now we know. Or rather we don’t.
The government has decided that there should now be a review of the entire programme of its plans for the country to be carved up into unitary authorities.
The reason? Publicly the government wants a pause in the programme to make sure that everything is alright and not liable to challenge in the courts, which you’d have thought might have been central to its considerations shake-up.
Battalions of lawyers were lined up to argue the toss - more public money - and present judges with grounds for pulling the rug from beneath the government’s collective feet.
And who would have thought that? After weeks and months cajoling councils to get a move on, ministers have reversed that position and are not just encouraging caution but to stop work immediately on the possible options that it had drawn up.
The exhortations to move rapidly towards caution - there’s something to get your teeth stuck into - are a direct contradiction of the government’s initial edict, in which it made it clear that any foot dragging would not be tolerated.
So, what’s the government up to?
Here’s our analysis by Paul Francis, the former political editor of KM Media.
A cautionary tale: the government - like all governments - is desperate not to be caught with its trousers down. So, it’s this subtle checking with its lawyers to make sure that there are genuinely no grounds on which it could be challenged - not so much on the content but on the judicial process.
Time-keeping: Clobbering the review into the long grass is an effective way of buying time. The government’s view is that councils have the capacity to move more quickly - particularly if other countries do ultimately decide the review is not worth pursuing.
Devolution drag: It’s not exactly clear to many what devolution actually is in the context of local services. And if it’s not clear, all we can say is that isn’t devolution it is not the same system they have in Wales. Or Scotland.
What it appeared originally to be was an offer to councils to adopt a be-spoke model particular to their council. This purist approach has led councils to unrealistic expectations that in England would have unfettered freedoms.
So, while the government is not quite throwing in the towel, you can bet that even as you are reading this, words are carefully being crafted to draw a line on the programme.
For now.