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Council tax freeze extended by Chancellor

George Osborne is set to unveil plans to extend the council tax freeze in England to 2012-2013.

According to the BBC, the move will be paid for by a £805 million ’underspend“ in Whitehall.

The Chancellor is also due to tell the Conservative party conference that he is still determined to stick to deficit reduction targets, and will defend his plans to encourage economic growth in the UK.

While he will refuse a u-turn on policy, he will show how the government is working to support businesses, such as an increase in the time an employee must work before they claim unfair dismissal.

It is now hoped that that the tax freeze will save families up to £72, which Osborne hopes will help with “the daily cost of living”.

However, the shadow treasury minister has accused Mr Osborne of being “out of touch”, and people are already struggling with rising prices and energy bills now, which they cannot afford to pay.

Nonetheless, David Cameron also promised his party up to 200,000 extra affordable homes and 400,000 new jobs over the weekend, and denied the government was sitting back in the face of economic stagnation.

However, Labour believe the coalition has now run out of ideas.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .