“Tory blames scapegoat for problem his party inflamed.”

I wonder where he expected the shortfall to come from when he cut council budgets…

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Council leaders looking to raise tax by more than the 5% cap either have to be granted permission from central government or hold a local referendum on doing so.

Bedfordshire is the only council ever to have held such a referendum, holding a vote in 2015 in which local people rejected the idea of higher tax rates.

This week the government granted permission to a series of councils to raise taxes by more than the 5% cap, including Thurrock, Woking, Slough and Birmingham.

The prime minister added: “We can strike the balance between councils raising the money they need, but making sure they don’t unnecessarily burden people.”

Eight English councils, including Birmingham, Nottingham and Croydon, have issued so-called section 114 notices in recent years, in effect declaring themselves bankrupt.

But some Tory officials are concerned that could counteract the effect of national tax cuts that have been promised in next month’s budget by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

The original article contains 474 words, the summary contains 157 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!