Council tax freeze extended for a year
Chancellor George Osborne is set to confirm a freeze on council tax for a second year to help families and pensioners.
Council tax rates are set by councils, but the government is expected to offer money to those who limit spending rises to 2.5 per cent.
The plan for the 2012-13 rates will be unveiled in Mr Osborne’s speech to the Conservative Party conference today.
It will be paid for using £800m of unspent cash from Whitehall departments.
Cash will also be made available to the devolved executives in Scotland and Wales, allowing them to make similar offers to keep council tax down.
Mr Osborne told ITV1’s Daybreak: “My message is I am doing everything, this government is doing everything, to help you, your family, to help the economy, to get people into work, to keep people in work.
“My job is to take the difficult decisions that help families to put food on the table and keep the people in work who bring home the bread.”
The chancellor’s speech will also call for a “can-do attitude” to overcome the country’s current problems.