How Labour councils are increasing tax more than Tory ones

Telegraph

20-03-2025

Labour town halls are increasing council tax more than that Conservative-held ones, according to analysis.
Councils controlled by Labour will increase total bills by an average of more than 5 per cent for next year, while the Tories will put them up by 4.76 per cent.
It comes as the Government confirmed that the average household will see its council tax bill go up by £109, to £2,280 for Band D properties.
The Tories claimed that Labour had 'left town halls left to foot the blame when record bills hit the doormat'.
The analysis comes as Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, fired the starting gun on the party's local elections' campaign, with voters going to the ballot box on May 1.
She promised 'lower taxes and better services'. She added: 'We are the only credible choice: Lib Dems will wreck your public services, Reform has no experience running anything, Greens will run councils into the ground and Labour will spend, tax and waste your money, just like they always do.'
But Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said that her new pledge was 'comical', citing figures showing that across 19 Tory-controlled councils bills had risen by 23.5 per cent over the past five years.
'The Tories' track record in local government is one of higher taxes and crumbling services. After decades of mismanagement, Conservative councils across the country are buckling under the pressure.'
Residents in Liberal Democrat-run authorities face the steepest overall council tax bills, at £2,344 for a Band D property, inclusive of all precepts from fire, police and potential mayoral or parish precepts. This is followed by the Tories at £2,299.
But Labour local authorities have increased bills compared to last year's receipts by the greatest amount, at 5.01 per cent, compared to the Lib Dems at 4.97 per cent and the Tories at 4.76 per cent, according to analysis by The Telegraph.
The largest rises in the councils' own levies came from Labour councils in Bradford, where it is set to rise by 10 per cent, and increases of 9 per cent in Labour-run Newnham and Lib Dem-run Windsor and Maidenhead.
Mrs Badenoch said on Thursday morning that the party was aiming to do a 'bit better' than a local election wipe-out, warning that she expected the contest to be 'extremely difficult'.
The council seats up for grabs at the local elections in May were last contested in 2021, when Boris Johnson achieved sweeping success.
Only Labour and Liberal Democrat-run councils which are imposing council tax rises above the mainstream 5 per cent referendum threshold this year.
Town halls cannot put up the levy by more than a specific amount – currently 5 per cent – without voters agreeing in a local referendum or having agreed a specific carve out by the Government.
A Labour spokesman said: 'The numbers are clear, on average Conservative councils charge households £300 more than Labour councils. The Tories decimated our local services.
'Labour is picking local government back up off its knees with a funding settlement that sees a 4.3 per cent real terms increase in funding this year, compared to last.'
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: 'We are under no illusion about the scale of financial issues facing councils we inherited and our work is underway to fix the foundations and bring long-term stability to the sector.
'And while councils are ultimately responsible for setting their own council tax levels, we have been clear that they should put taxpayers first and carefully consider the impact of their decisions.
'That's why we are maintaining a referendum threshold on council tax rises, so taxpayers can have the final say and be protected from excessive increases.'