Council tax: final-year students warned they could get surprise bills
Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
Starmer says he would not let SNP hold new independence referendum or lift veto on gender recognition bill – as it happened
Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
Reform UK plans ‘don’t add up’ and costings are out ‘by tens of billions of pounds per year’, says IFS – as it happened
Wes Streeting fails to rule out council tax rise if Labour wins election
Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
Sunak refuses to say if aide who bet on election date knew about timing – as it happened
Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
UK politics: IFS attacks Tory pledge not to reform ‘absurd’ council tax system – as it happened
May 2024
Are consumers any better off after 14 years of Conservative government?
We analyse a key point of contention in the general election campaign: the government’s record on pay, housing, energy and food bills
April 2024
Economics viewpoint
From welfare to warfare: Sunak’s spending shift imperils local services again
Richard Partington
Council budgets look a likely target when the Tory government seeks to balance the books and pay for its promises
‘A deeply broken system’: is it time England abandoned council tax?
In London, rates for Battersea power station’s £8m flats are still set with reference to its low-value past, and their rich owners pay less than householders in Hartlepool
Household bills rise sharply despite easing energy costs
Rates for phone, broadband and water will increase from Monday and other increases are in the pipeline
March 2024
England’s parishes and towns raise council tax surcharge to fund scrapped local services
Council tax, broadband, and dental charges: how to weather the April price rises
Want to tackle council tax inequity? Look back to George Lansbury
The manifesto Britain needs
Tory levelling up has been a scam. Here are three things Labour can do to make it actually mean something
John Harris
Birmingham council approves biggest budget cuts in local authority history
What is the best way to make council tax fairer for everyone?
One simple change could restore faith in local democracy. But nobody is talking about it
Aditya Chakrabortty
February 2024
The Guardian view on local government finance: a crisis that corrodes democracy
Editorial: Westminster cannot continue to ignore the scale of social devastation caused by the chronic underfunding of council services
Councils in crisis
Disastrous Truss budget forced UK councils to take out massive 50-year loans at soaring rates
Debt Management Office figures show lasting impact of mini-budget that spooked financial markets, says Labour’s Angela Rayner
Local authority leaders criticise Sunak’s call for ‘restrained’ council tax rises
Prime minister’s comments ‘remarkable’ given government cuts to town hall funding in England, say LGA bosses
