• Osborne conjures up a two-year council tax freeze for millions

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Afraid its the way of new Labour over the last ten years... jobs with politically correct titles, and meaningless attributes. We have fallen into the burden of PC in my view, and the councils are at the top of the list for this. True some of the PC jobs are low paid, but there are 100's of them... its time that a private sector company audited the councils, their IT systems for example? There spending, what exactly do all these people do? If they had been a private sector company, then by now they'd be bankrupt.... suppose its a good job that the cash cow of tax payers is there for them! Its really time for councils to tighten their belts like all the rest of us and pull together and help each other... if we dont, then there will be some serious casualties and social unrest coming our way! People who now won't pay, will become can't pay... then what?

- Garyc, Kingston upon Thames UK

Why oh why can't councils think of cutting thier own fat allowances and over generous pension schemes for once as well as getting shut of all the non jobs and hangers on, before thinking of cutting essential services to the vulnerable in society or education? If we must be forced to endure this nasty tax, then it should be reformed to only fund those things with direct local control, anything that the council provides under edict from Whitehall should be centrally funded in its entirity from general taxation. Local democracy is a joke under the current system. It is quite irrelevant who gets voted into office at the local level, they are told what to spend on and how much to spend by the government. We could vote locally for the "lets slash spending to nothing party" and our council tax bills would remain just as obscene, save for one or two hundred quid out of nearly two grand, big deal, not!

- Adrian Nash, Lancaster (South) England

We do not need to freeze, we are already. This tax should be scrapped,the low paid and those on fixed incomes have had enough of supporting the rich, a tax system based on the less you have, the more you pay, the more you have, the less you pay. Who said this tax, would be based on the ability to pay, be seen to be fair and be easy to collect, non other than another Tory now a Lord. This freezing will not be able to take place until 2011 by then another £150 will be added to the bill. We want a tax where everyone pays not just the minority.

- Britax, Dorset

It is too late for amendments to make any difference, the system needs scrapping. 11 years ago my council tax was £530.If the R.P.I.had been used for increases i.e 35% my C.T.would be £715.,instead it has increased by 154.4% and is now £1315. This is after a 25% discount for single occupancy,I repeat it must be scrapped.My authority is Mid Sussex District Council.
Terry Reilly.

- Terry Reilly, burgess hill west sussex.

Actually, if you look at the figures, Islington has the eighth lowest council tax in London.

Under Labour, Islington had one of the highest council taxes in the country, but that's been brought down since Labour were kicked out by the voters. Try moving over the border to Labour run Hackney or Haringey if you want to see high taxes and shoddy services.

Conservative boroughs with higher council tax than Islington are: Redbridge, Enfield, Barnet, Bexley, Houslow, Merton, Croydon, Hillingdon, Bromley, Harrow, and Havering.

In fact, almost all of London's Tory boroughs would fail Osborne's 2.5% criteria- Harrow, Bexley, Hillingdon, Barnet, Redbridge, Merton, Enfield, Havering, Croydon, and Bromley!

I think H&F, admirable as it is, is giving a misleading impression of what the Tories are really about!

- Henry, London, N1

Some Councils appear to beleive that Council Tax Payers all are very rich and have bottomless wallets to keep paying the annual hikes.

Wrong!! Its about time Councils looked at just what some of their staff do. For a start many of those local authority 'Non Jobs' could be scrapped, of course Councils will justify everything. I say this as an ex-Local Government Officer that many jobs quite frankly are not required and are just a joke! Since New Labour came into office, these 'Non Job' Guardianista posts have, like Topsy, just sprouted and sprouted.

- Uncle Vanya, Chelmsford England

"every Labour and Liberal Democrat-run borough in the capital told the Standard they opposed the plans."
They'd want to sit down and think this one through.
Hands up anyone who would vote for a local councillor who opposed freezing the hated Council tax?

- Sarahn, London, UK

I see Islington LibDems have rejected the council tax freeze. I live in this borough which arguably has one of the highest council taxes in the country with the worst schools, dirty streets, rising street violence and unsafe streets, increasing menace from street gangs, poor garbage collection rounds, illegal car parking, etc.. endless list of woes. This was the first borough which under Labour appointed super head teachers with six figure salaries and every one of them left accepting defeat while the schools one by one were put into special measures or registered extremel poor results. The education is so bad the the two Labour MPs representing the borough send their kids to selective schools far away from the borough.

We are here wedged between the rock of tax and spend LibDems and hard place of tax and spend Labour.

- Norman, LONDON

Stacks of P45's are required in most Town Halls.

- David, East Grinstead

I'm afraid the only confidence trick is that of the council leaders who have expressed views that clearly demonstrate that they haven't informed themselves of the whole policy.

We have heard much of localism for a number of years. This is localism in action. Councils do not have to limit their increases to 2.5%. They can do what they want. However, they will not qualify for the extra funding if they are higher. Each council group can decide how they will be judged by the residents that they are supposed to serve and what is in the interests of those residents, not self-interest.

Cllr Brennan states that with inflation running at 4.7%, the lower increase can only be acheived through cuts. Last year he pledged that Sutton would increase tax by 3.4% each year over the next two years. This is the council that has to find more than £500,000 after a bungled unpopular change to the collection of green garden waste and directed £24,000 to erect two 'totem poles' in one of the most deprived wards in London.

By contrast the one part of Sutton's Council tax that is under Conservative control, the GLA precept, is to be frozen next year as announced by Boris on Monday.

The approach by the Labour and Lib Dem groups gives them a quick headline but gives their voters a clear choice in 2010 of more inflation busting increase or some common sense value for money.

(Bob in Cheam, the £10k increase was for some senior council officers, not councillors.)

- Cllr Paul Scully, Sutton, UK

I think it is great news that half of London Boroughs do not oppose George Osborne's initiative. I note the list of those councils against comprises LibDem or Labour authorities, with only two where Conservatives share power. What a surprise.

- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK

perhaps if all the councils stopped advertising multiple jobs in The Grauniad at £2500 an insertion, for non-jobs or part time maternity cover roles in 5 a day something or other, they may have the cash to spend on proper jobs like Park Wardens or Grass cutting or street sweeping - all of which have vanished in favour of the non-jobs?

- Gary, wycombe

There is only one reason why people work for their Local Authority, whether they be professionals or manual workers, and that is because they are not good enough to find work in the private sector. I had a relative who was made redundant from a managerial position in private industry, as a stop gap she went to work for her Local Authority. She lasted just 6 months. The lack of drive, ambition or sense of achievement was demoralising. Added to that office politics, lateness, absenteeism and the general couldn't care less attitude drove her quickly back into the private sector. Local Authorities need to cut their staffing levels(particularly Labour and LibDems)rather than increasing Council tax bills to pay for more and more substandard employees.

- Pete, Croydon UK

I look forward to living in my Tory Brough and not having a rise for two years whilst my neighbours in Barking and Newham hand over an extra £200 for their vegetarian arts festival and their three extra banana angle measurers.

I am interested in this current downturn how many cuts are made. It never happens does it. It's always above inflation rises on Council Tax.

You now have a choice. Vote Labour/Liberal and shell out £200 for the privelege

- M Spanner, Ilford

I suppose that the headline for this article could just as truthfully read "Half of boroughs DONT oppose Tory council tax freeze."

- Frank Carrie, Bognor Regis W. Sussex

Take a look at the list of councils that said they would refuse the plan. All LibDem and Labour councils. So obviously this is political point-scoring.
If you look at the Band D 08/09 council tax increases for this lot, only 2 were below the 2.5% limit that Osbourne proposes. Four had increases of exactly 2.5%, and not surprisingly 10 had increases over the threshold of up to 4.75%. Meanwhile Ealing had an increase of only 1.89%, Hackney, Wandsworth, Westmister had no increase at all, and Hammersmith & Fulham had a DECREASE of 3%.
The Labour/LibDem councils want to keep the gravy train running while the rest of us tighten our belts while the taxpapers share the same inflation pressures. The Labour/LibDem councils should learn from their neighbours to see how to give better value for the hard-earned money we hand to them.

- Mike, Ealing, London

At a time when employers in the private sector are pulling in their belts, having looked at the vacancies in local government, it seems to me that they are making little effort to do the same. Local Government must be slimmed down, and now. When one council (Hampshire) employs more people than the Royal Navy it becomes quite clear that there is an element of empire building. One does not only have to consider the salaries (and no one gets the minimum wage) but the pension that goes with it. The employer (us) is contributing about 18% of salary to these gold plated pensions
The Government, together with the unions have failed to stem the spiralling cost of this unsustainable and unaffordable (to the taxpayer) pension.
Yes councils must cut their cloth and the Government must be more even handed with their grants.
Can anyone explain to me why council tax on the ubiquitous band D property in Westminister or Wandsworth is about is about half that of councils in other parts of the country? The whole system needs reforming, no tinkering, just completely reformed to make it a fair tax for all.
Dennis Healey may well said that he would squeeze the rich until their pips squeaked, but the present Government has forgotten the 'rich' and is squeezing us all. Not just until the pips squeak, but until they are well and truly crushed.

- Christine Melsom, Headley, Hampshire, England

Unsuprising that Sutton is on the list as the councillors all awarded themselves £10,000 a year pay rises this year despite the economic downturn.

- Bob, Cheam

They should cut the council tax, not just freeze it.

Then they could sack loads of the lazy, useless staff they have, who can't be bothered to do what they are paid for.

- P Staker, London

Council are heavily over-staffed spenders. They have already cut rubbish collections and yet have not passed on the savings. The Tories are right to put a cap on their spending. Personally, I'd starve them of all funds and let central government run everything. Councils are shown themselves to be pointless, over-opinionated, dictatorial institutions.

- Anthony, London

The overstaffed, overpaid Councils always winge if they think that their noses are to be pulled from the trough of public money.
Cut back on the very highly paid executives and the Army of jobsworths and then Council Tax could be kept at a reasonable level.

- Charles, Stanmore. London

Look at the list of Councils and you see Nu Labor/Lib Dem in almost all cases! What a surprise! Don't listen to these socialists Osbourne, we are all sick of these town hall parasites who screw their constituents at every turn whilst enjoying bullet proof jobs and pensions.

- James, New Malden, Surrey

come on then comment makers on the Standard...quick quiz for you... what do councils, by law, have to provide for you with the money? I suspect you dont know. other than your rubbish collection perhaps? But hang on, what about parks?, schools? street lights? litter? pavements? roading? traffic lights? meeting EU air quality targets? recycling? community centres? swimming pools? libraries? customer advice? enforcement of stray dogs, dog cr*p, litter, graffiti & flyposting?, street cleansing? etc etc... Please do enlighten us on the other ways of keeping your council tax static when inflation is at 4.5%, without getting rid of all these clearly superfluous, corrupt and 'pigs at the trough' type services!!! but no, of course it's all about overpaid bureaucrats isnt it? (check out today's guardian to see the ludicrous salaries local govt workers get- I mean £25k for a social worker dealing with society's most vulnerable or messed up?!...talk about daylight robbery!!)- local govt workers at the trough?!-Get real!

- Jared, London, UK

Not surprised to see Kingston being against this council tax freeze. Not content with already charging its ripped-off residents the highest council tax in London, it seems it now plans to increase it. It's about time they realsied that the money is not theirs, it is our money and we're sick of it being wasted on rubbish "Diversity Co-ordinators" and the like.

- Huw Morgan, Kingston upon Thames

Whenever a freeze, or heaven forbid, a reduction in council tax is proposed, the councils cry foul and say it will lead to a reduction in services. Utter tosh! The only reduction need be in mindless jobsworths who make all our lives miserable. Get rid of a few of these positions, with their salaries and pensions, streamline the processes in local government, and services will actually improve, but for lower cost.

- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland

The pigs whining as the trough is pulled from under their incompetent and inefficient noses.
About time. Well done Osbourne.

- Minnie Ovens, USA

I fully agree with what everyone has said freeze the council bills. The councils should be forced to adopt sensible programs that add value to the populace. Since the taxes have been increasing the level of service has been decreasing or has even worsened

- Mohammed, London UK

"Individual borough leaders warned it would inevitably mean cuts to essential services such as schools, housing and rubbish collections."

Yes, no saving to be made with twinning trips, pay rises for council leaders, redesign of logos, etc, etc.

Scare tactics like these are so cowardly. They have already cut rubbish collection to the detriment of public health; sold of play grounds and other school assets; and what housing? Social housing is none existent or taken by foreign nationals. Middle class home owners are currently stretched to the limit by thieving councils who have put up taxes well above the rate of inflation.

- Frank, Home Counties, England.

Maybe they ought to take stock of what is happening in the real world at present and try to understand that the people of London are fed up being taxed to the hilt, hence Livingstones departure.

- Den, London

Or could this be councils will finally have to get their accounts in order. Lambeth for example still hasn't been able almost 4 years down the line to send out final bills for works carried out.
Any council refusing to accept a freeze, needs looking into, with a fine tooth comb!

- Simon Caleb, London

it is impossible for these councils to become more efficient; they all absolutely perfect examples of honed, value for money operations.

- Jules_London, london

They would say that, wouldn't they. Having worked for a LA when I was younger, I'm only too aware of the amount of money they waste, and the number of overpaid deadbeats they have on their books. Slim them down, I say -- this would be a welcome move.

- Mark, London

Well of course they object, as they won't be able to employ any more of the typical duff, useless staff, as we pay for it.

Let them make cutbacks for a change instead of milking decent hardworking, council tax payers.

- N Grinsell, London

Can someone explain to me by what God's or man's decree it has been carved in stone that the council tax has to keep rising, and if it has been, where's the limit?

- Mariusz, London

Are these refuseniks the same councils that advertise high paid jobs, with titles that are just a set of meaningless words strung together ?

You just know that it's a job-creation scheme when you can't understand the job title, never mind what the job is supposed to achieve !

- Cap, london uk

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