Council tax soars but cost of Band D property in Milton Keynes is less than national average

Council tax has soared above inflation under the Tories with the average Band D property in Milton Keynes now costing £1,943.08, compared to £1,450,91 in 2015.

Boris Johnson has promised electors that a vote for Conservative candidates will help keep council tax low, accusing Labour controlled local authorities of imposing bigger levies on residents.

But councils across England have faced enormous budget cuts at the hands of the Tory-run central government since 2010, as NationalWorld revealed earlier this year, increasing their reliance on council taxpayers to fund vital services – against a backdrop of an ageing and growing population, which is increasingly expensive to care for.

New analysis by NationalWorld has now revealed council tax bills have risen at twice the rate of inflation in England since 2015, when the Conservatives won an overall majority in Parliament.

However though this is true of Milton Keynes research shows that while the cost of council tax for a Band D property is close to £2,000 it is marginally lower (£22.62) than the national average and £91.27 less than the average charged by similar unitary councils. The average for similar councils is £2,034.35.

Council tax rates vary enormously across the country – none more so than in England, where there is a gap of more than £1,400 between the cheapest and priciest areas for a band D property, a common benchmark for comparison.

On average, band D households in England are paying £1,965.70 in 2022-23, according to figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The lowest fee is in Westminster, at just £865.78, while the highest is in Rutland, in Leicestershire, at £2,300.03.

In England band D is reserved for houses that were worth between £68,000 and £88,000 in 1991.

That could mean councils in wealthier areas are better able to keep council tax rates low, as a higher proportion of properties there will fall into bands E to H and pay the higher fees.