Local government minister, John Healey, has given eight council leaders 21 days to make their case for breaching capping levels – or accept having to spend thousands of pounds re-billing. Mr Healey faces his first trial of strength over capping since becoming minister last June, but has insisted he will stand by his warning that council tax rises must not be higher than 5%. But council chiefs have accused the Government of political point-scoring over plans to cap seven police authorities and Portsmouth City Council. Mr Healey announced last week that the eight authorities, seven of them police, had 21 days to make their case to the Government after setting precept rises of more than 5%. LGA chairman, Sir Simon Milton, said the decision to cap Portsmouth City Council, after setting a council tax rise of 5.04%, ‘defies all common sense'. Sir Simon said capping would save Band D households 45p in council tax, but it would cost the council £90,000 to re-bill residents. ‘This once again underlines how self-defeating it is to cap councils which increase council tax by no more than a few pounds a year,' he said. Portsmouth City Council chief executive, David Williams, said: ‘We are happy to talk to the Government to resolve what looks to be a technical issue. ‘We understand the tax level the Government is measuring is for the whole area. For Portsmouth this should include Southsea Town Council, which agreed a zero rate, so there is no tax levied. This brings the overall Portsmouth figure to below 5%. Mr Healey said the average council tax rise was the lowest in 14 years, with ‘the average Band D rise being 4%', and more than half of councils setting rates below the RPI inflation index of 4.1%. Three councils have actually cut their tax, while 18 have no increase. Norfolk CC leader, Daniel Cox, said the Government should ‘back off' from capping his police authority. ‘If this goes ahead, then the Government will, rightly, be accused of making a petty and controversial political point at the overall expense of policing in Norfolk, and it is an act of great stupidity in any case, since it will cost more to re-bill than its funding cap would save,' said Cllr Cox. ‘Such heavy-handedness drives a coach and horses through the daily tomes and preaching from Whitehall about giving more power to local people,' he added. Angela Crowe, chairman of Lincolnshire Police Authority, who set a precept rise of 78.9%, said the Government's capping decision ‘was not wholly unexpected'. ‘We are confident of the strength of our case and look forward to presenting this to the CLG,' she added. The seven police authorities Precept rise Bedfordshire 9.6% Cheshire 17% Leicestershire 15.4% Lincolnshire 78.9% Norfolk 8.3% Surrey 9.7% Warwickshire 12.9% And... Portsmouth City Council 5.04%
