Lib Dems warn on council tax

The Liberal Democrats have stepped up their calls for the government to reform the "underhand" and "unwanted" council tax.

Speaking at the Lib Dem eastern region conference on Saturday, party leader Sir Menzies Campbell said there was little difference between Labour and the Conservatives on the key issues facing Britain.

He argued that council tax was a "prime example" of this, and pointed to this week's session of prime minister's questions when Gordon Brown and David Cameron "bellowed over who got there first on proposed changes to inheritance tax".

"But it fell to me - to the Liberal Democrats - to raise the issue of council tax," he said.

"Council tax - the most underhand, unwanted, and unfair tax in Britain today. Thanks to this week's spending review, funding for councils will now rise by just one percent."

He warned that, with the cost of adult social care rising by between eight and 15 per cent each year, this would "force council taxes ever higher" for millions of pensioners and lower income families.

Sir Menzies said that council tax would rise by at least five per cent next year.

"And by 2011 it will have risen by more than 120 per cent since Labour came to power," he added.

"Hitting hardest those who have least; it is high time we moved to fair local taxation based on the ability to pay."

The Lib Dem leader predicted that at the next election "the unfairness of Britain's council tax will be clearer than ever before".

"Our opponents will ignore it," he said. "They will pretend it doesn't matter: but they do so at their peril. Because people are not stupid.

"Council tax is rising steadily to the top of the political debate. And without reform prime minister, the council tax will be your poll tax."