Why has Labour allowed big increases in council tax?

Not since the bad old days of the poll tax has the normally dry world of local government finance been so wracked by penury, crisis and politicking.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Some local authorities have already spectacularly gone bust - notably Birmingham City Council while many more are on the edge, and now six councils in England have been granted special permission by the responsible secretary of state, Angela Rayner, to raise council tax by up to 10 per cent – above the usual cap of 3 per cent (or 5 per cent for those councils with responsibility for social care).

Normally they’d be required to hold a local referendum on anything bigger. Draconian though the tax rises are, they are unlikely to place English local government on a sustainable footing...

Who’s getting a hike?

The six are: Bradford (Labour-run, 9.99 per cent); Newham (Labour, 8.99 per cent); Windsor and Maidenhead (Liberal Democrat, 8.99 per cent); Somerset (Liberal Democrat, 7.4 per cent); Trafford (Labour, 7.4 per cent); and Birmingham (Labour, 7.4 per cent). Hampshire, one of a number of hopeful councils turned down by Rayner, is going to hold a referendum anyway.

Why won’t there be a referendum in Bradford, Windsor, Birmingham and elsewhere?