Smash hit

Claiming some of the data was inaccurate or out of date, he accused the TaxPayers’ Alliance of making “personal attacks on individual people who have no part in the setting of salaries and no chance to defend themselves”.

“Councils are responsible for ensuring that more than 100 billion of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely and provides more than 700 services local people want and need,” Mr Ransford said.

“Many councils have bigger budgets than FTSE100 companies and to get the brightest people to deliver the best services for local people they need to pay a competitive wage.”

Nevertheless, the report will no doubt prompt suggestions that councils should be tightening their own belts instead of passing costs onto consumers already feeling the pinch from rising inflation and an economic slowdown.

From next month, the average council tax bill for a band D property will be £1,374, up by £53 on this year’s figure and in line with The Times’ survey of council tax charges published in February.

Local government experts said the rises would have been higher were it not for the Government threat to intervene and veto any rises in budgets or council tax bills above five per cent, forcing authorities to cut services instead.

John Healy, the local government minister, began moves to cap seven police authorities - more than the five predicted - plus the city council in Portsmouth for exceeding the limit.

Police authorities and chief constables in the seven due to be capped declared they would fight the Government to insist on their right to levy higher charges where local people were willing to pay more for better services.

In addition to Cheshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Surrey and Warwickshire, the police authorities that expected to be capped, those in Norfolk and Bedfordshire also face intervention over “excessive” rises to budgets or bills.

Bob Jones, chairman of the Association of Police Authorities, said: “Police authorities owe it to their communities to set police council tax at a level which ensures effective and efficient policing for all local people.”

The leader of Portsmouth council, which is run by a minority Liberal Democrat group, attacked the move as ridiculous, saying its council tax bills were due to rise by 5.04 per cent and if it would cost £1 per household to send new bills for a lower council tax rise within the 5 per cent figure but would yield an extra 75p per household.

Gerald Vernon-Jackson blamed the costs of Labour’s policy of free bus travel for people over 60 from next month, saying a Government of £2.6 million failed to cover its £4 million cost, and said his authority was being penalised for spending its reserves to protect services.

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