Member

I notice that he is not in his place, but it is time that the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, appreciates the magnitude of the damage visited on councils by his party. The OBR and the MHCLG tell us that council tax raises about £40 billion a year, and that excludes parish precepts. We know councils have just put up council tax by between 3% and 5%. Whether it is 3% or 5%, the bold arithmetic is that the clear majority of last week’s council tax rises, which will kick in in April, will be passported straight to the Treasury through the national insurance tax. The vast minority of the extra money raised by council tax will not even stick to the sides and benefit local people in any measure. It means that most of the extra tax paid by council tax payers next year will not even benefit the local taxpayers themselves.