Osborne to Extend Council Tax Freeze
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October 3, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
To “help families with the daily cost of living”, George Osborne will be extending the council tax freeze in England.
Chancellor George Osborne will give a speech at the Conservative party conference on Thursday, where he will announce plans to extend the council tax freeze in England for an extra year.
Mr Osborne will say that under-spending across Whitehall has left the government with a £805m dividend, which will now be used to “help families and pensioners with the daily cost of living”.
The government cannot force individual councils to freeze their tax; however, Mr Osborne is expected to announce that those willing to limit their spending rises to 2.5% will have complete financial support from the coalition.
Today’s announcement will exceed a promise given during the Conservative election campaign, which pledged to freeze council tax for total of two years. It is also expected to save the average family £72 per year, on top of money set-aside from last year’s freeze.
Nonetheless, Mr Osborne’s plan has also been criticised by the Trades Union Congress. Brendan Barber, the union’s general secretary, argued that despite helping individual families the tax freeze would not and could not solve the country’s economic problems.
“This is not the best way to boost jobs and growth,” he said. “This is politics, not economics.”
During today’s speech, Mr Osborne will also be defending his deficit reduction plan. He will maintain that spending cuts are vital to the future economy, especially in light of the current eurozone crisis.
He will argue that the government has “activist” policies in dealing with the current economic situation, including keeping interest rates low, cutting cooperate taxes and offering more investment in to apprenticeships.
“We are doing what we can to support jobs, support enterprise, support infrastructure,” Mr Osborne told the BBC.
The chancellor will announce the bulk of his plans in November, a decision that has been met with much criticism from political opposition.
Shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie described Mr Osborne and his colleagues as “out-of-touch ministers”. They “don’t seem to understand that people are struggling with rising prices and energy bills now”, he said, adding: “This policy means no help for another six months.”
Following today’s announcement, Mr Osborne will be flying to Luxembourg, where finance ministers will be discussing possible resolutions to the eurozone crisis.
A solution to the crisis “would do more to boost the UK economy than anything else in the world at the moment”, he explained.
By Catherine Rees
[Image courtesy of conservativeparty]
