Chilly reception for Osborne's tax freeze

摘要

Shadow chancellor George Osborne's plan to 'freeze' council tax for two years has been dismissed as flawed, unafford-able and likely to damage local services. Local government minister, John Healey, attacked the plan, and challenged the Conservatives to produce a breakdown of how they intended to fund the scheme. Reaction to Mr Osborne's speech to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham on 29 September also left local government policy experts scratching their heads. Mr Osborne promised to 'freeze... council tax for at least two years', if the Conservatives won the next general election. While a government could not impose local tax freezes, Mr Osborne said he intended to encourage it by promising to fully fund the first 2.5% of a council's annual spending increases. Mr Osborne's advisers later told The MJ that 'should encourage many councils to keep local tax levels at current rates'.