The royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea has said it has no intention of participating in the sweeping move to consolidate the UK's £260bn of local authority pension schemes, throwing the government's cost-cutting plans into doubt.  

The London borough, which runs a £1.1bn pension fund, says it has no plans to invest any money with the London Collective Investment Vehicle, set up three years ago to bring together £34bn of pensions cash from London's 32 councils.