Osborne vows to freeze council tax

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His surprise initiative was unveiled to a rapturous reception from Tory activists at the party's conference who hope it will repeat the success of Mr Osborne's inheritance tax give-away at last year's gathering, which was credited with helping catapult Conservatives into the lead in the polls.

Mr Osborne used his keynote speech in Birmingham to continue the Tory assault on Prime Minister Gordon Brown, accusing him of "dither and delay" over the collapse of the Bradford & Bingley bank, whose nationalisation dominated discussions at the conference.

He pointed the finger of blame at Mr Brown for creating the conditions for what the PM himself has termed "the age of irresponsibility", asking: "Who would have thought that the epitaph on the gravestone of the Brown years would be carved by the man himself?".

And he told the PM: "You won't get away with blaming us for casino capitalism when you're the man who's been running the casino and collecting the chips for the last 11 years."

Mr Osborne condemned the nationalisation deal, which he said would lead to low-income households paying extra taxes to bail out millionaire bankers.

And he insisted that bankers who paid themselves huge salaries and bonuses must themselves bear their share of the blame for the current crisis and their share of the pain it is causing.

"If you take risks, you must bear the costs," he told bankers. "You helped cause this mess and you can help pay to clear it up."

Under Mr Osborne's council tax plan, local authorities in England which keep their annual rise to 2.5% or below would get extra funding from Whitehall - effectively wiping out the increase.

The £1 billion cost of the freeze would be met by cuts in Government advertising and use of consultants, said Mr Osborne.