Labour Government scrap council tax revaluation "to save local council seats"

3.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 19th Sep 2005

The Council Tax - Unfair

Plans to revalue English homes for council tax have been postponed until after the next election, the Labour government has announced.

Local Government Minister David Miliband said the delay would mean the issue could be considered as part of an inquiry into local authority funding.

The revaluation of around 22 million properties would probably have meant higher bills for many households in the Ashford area.

Chris Took, parliamentary spokesman for Ashford Liberal Democrats, has described the climbdown as "a desperate attempt to save local council and national seats across the UK."

Chris added "this delay only adds to uncertainty for householders when it comes to council tax bills. The Council Tax system was a bad idea, introduced by the Tories, that has been made worse by successive inflation busting rises by this Labour government."

"A Council Tax system based on the ability to pay is both fairer, more easily managed, less costly for local authorites and results in lower bills for many residents."