The real North-South divide: Council tax hikes squeeze the South - as Government is accused of subsidising its northern heartlands

In the most tightly squeezed cities and districts - mainly Conservative controlled areas - the tax burden has gone up by more than 150 per cent in a decade.

But the most favoured cities have seen the tax they pay go up by only 50 per cent since the party came to power in 1997.

The breakdown comes from figures disclosed by ministers in parliamentary questions, which show how much money has been collected by different town halls.

Lowest increases in council tax receipts have come in Liverpool, where the take went up just 49 per cent between 1997 and 2007.

Redcar in the North-East, St Helens on Merseyside, and Tameside in Manchester also received low amounts of extra tax from their residents.

But other places saw comparatively huge amounts of money handed over to town halls.

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Council tax payers in London have faced hikes of 206 per cent in the last 10 years

In the City of London, receipts rose by 206 per cent. Outside London there were increases above 150 per cent in parts of Cambridgeshire and Devon.

A string of councils saw their collection level go up by more than 140 per cent.

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Labour has been accused of giving extra subsidies and grants to northern towns and cities, which allow them to keep local taxes down.

Tories, who obtained the information through Westminster questions, said yesterday that Labour has been favouring its own voters.

Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: "Everyone has faced soaring levels of council tax, with homes across the South and East Anglia being clobbered the most under Gordon Brown.

"The police levy on council tax is going through the roof, but police numbers are being cut. Local services like weekly rubbish collections are slowly being cut, while bills rise year on year. People are paying more and getting less."

Christine Melsom, of the Is It Fair? council tax protest group, said: "If you live in the country, prices are much higher and you get squeezed every time. Council tax bills are just part of the pattern."

The evidence of differentials between towns and country and the North and South is likely to become a key campaigning issue in the local elections at the beginning of May.

An increase of 140 per cent would mean council tax receipts went up by more than ten times the level of inflation.

According to Gordon Brown's preferred measure, the consumer prices index, inflation went up by 14 per cent between 1997 and 2007.

Last year, research showed that taxpayers in the South are effectively subsidising higher public spending in Labour's heartlands.

Two reports found that the South-East bankrolls the rest of the country but gets fewer policemen, worse health services and shabbier care for the elderly than anywhere else.

Studies by the consultancy firms Local Government Futures and Oxford Economics showed that each person in the South-East pays the Treasury nearly £2,000 more than they receive back in public spending on services such as schools, hospitals and infrastructure projects.

Under the new system of judging what Treasury grants should be paid to local authorities, councils in areas judged poor and needy have been getting much higher amounts.

It was brought in by former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.