General Election – Will You Vote For Gordon Brown?

The survey of over 250 authorities shows that county councils, facing elections this year, have kept their rises below 4 per cent, while London authorities, following Boris Johnson’s example, have limited their increases to as little as 1.2 per cent.

A handful of police authorities have however defied the Government and confirmed increases of well over 5 per cent for their share of council tax. The highest hikes have been set by Derbyshire Police, 8.7 per cent and Greater Manchester Police at 7.5 per cent.

“The cost of this will seem very high to hard-pressed families, especially at a time of extreme economic hardship and trillion-pound liabilities. The public will wonder if this is another example of the Government’s legendary inability to get value for money from their taxes.”