COUNCIL TAX - HOT AIR

As protests over above-inflation council tax rises gained pace across the country, Liberal Democrats launched a campaign to scrap the unpopular levy.
Party frontbenchers joined pensioners in an "axe the tax" demonstration outside the Lib Dem conference in Brighton. And delegates inside the conference hall voted to approve a policy of replacing council tax with a local income tax of up to 3%, which local government spokesman Edward Davey said would switch the burden of paying for local services away from pensioners and the poor and onto more affluent residents.

The policy is one of a series of initiatives which Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy hopes will attract votes from former supporters of both Labour and the Tories and build on the momentum from the by-election victory in Brent East. A buoyant conference mood was further boosted by a Guardian poll that put the Lib Dems on 28%, just two points behind Iain Duncan Smith's Tories and seven below Labour. It was the party's best rating for 14 years. Mr Davey told activists that the Lib Dems had an opportunity to be the voice of millions of pensioners and low-paid workers, as the only party committed to abolishing council tax.

With increases of 70% since 1997 and average bills topping £1,000 a year, it was no surprise that there was "headlong revolt" against the tax. "Council tax is now the most unfair tax in Britain," said Mr Davey. "The whole system is riddled with unfairness. It's frankly astounding that after six years of a Labour Government, the state takes relatively more in tax from the country's poorest than it takes from the richest." A local income tax, based on ability to pay, would save hundreds of millions of pounds, which could be ploughed back into better services, he said.