Corbynista’s plot to hike average home’s council tax by £350

COUNCIL tax bills for the typical family home should rise by 20 per cent – or nearly £350 – a senior ally of Jeremy Corbyn has said.

Chris Williamson also claimed that owners of the most expensive properties should pay twice as much as they do now.

Under his plans for a ‘ differential progressive council tax’, the typical band D property owner would see their charges rise by a fifth.

The average bill now is £1,591 but this is expected to increase to as much as £1,698 from April. A further rise of 20 per cent would take band D bills over £2,000 for the first time.

Council tax would then increase step by step for more valuable properties, with those in the highest H band seeing their tax double. The hike would hit more than one in three households.

There are nearly 24million properties where council tax is levied in England.

of those, 8.1million are in band D or above.

Last night Tory MPs condemned the plans as reckless and warned households would suffer badly if Labour came to power. Housing minister Dominic raab said: ‘ The last Labour government doubled council tax and now they want to hike it again. This latest plan would see people’s bills soar by 20 per cent and add at least £320 a year to the average council tax bill.

‘only the Conservatives have the balanced approach our economy needs to keep more money in people’s pockets.’

Tory backbencher Henry smith said: ‘They’re not even in government but still Labour can’t help themselves in wanting to put their hands in hardworking household’s pockets to pay for their reckless plans.

‘Chris Williamson is a key Corbyn ally so if ever they got into power taxpayers would certainly suffer badly.’

Labour sources insisted the idea was ‘not our policy’. But Mr Williamson, who is the party’s spokesman for fire and emergency services, urged Labour councils to implement the tax hike and said they could do so without approval from ministers by holding a local referendum.

He told the Huffington Post the tax was ‘redistributive’. The idea is being adopted by some activists in the hard- Left Momentum group. Bristol Momentum wants a 200 per cent increase for the largest homes – potentially pushing band H bills above £10,000 a year.

A Labour source said: ‘This is not our policy. Council tax payers are facing the biggest increase in 14 years and even then, after seven years of cuts, local authorities will struggle to balance their books.

‘It’s not true that Government cannot afford the money needed to invest in services like the care and protection of children – it has simply chosen not to, and is attempting to shift the burden on to struggling families.’