I WAS outraged to see that council taxpayers might have to stump up nearly 80 per cent of a £670 million funding rise for police.

The Home Office has confirmed Press speculation that £24 is likely to be added to millions of council tax bills in 2019-2020 to tackle the rise in violent crime.

Yet it is this Government’s action of taking several thousands of police officers off the streets that has created this violent crime epidemic. Over the last 10 years policing numbers have been reduced by 20,000. The nation is now paying the price for protecting the public on the cheap.

Our streets have become like the wild west with murders and stabbings rife across the nation. It is a government that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing and it is a blinkered policy which is having a devastating impact on our communities.

Next year another eye watering council tax bill will land on our doormats, especially with these latest add ons from national government.

It is hard to see what we are getting for these inflation busting council tax rises. My bin was recently missed on the garden waste collection round. It is about time that we also had a major shake up of local government which has been living off the fat of the land for far too long.

I recently downloaded an application form for a blue badge for disabled parking on behalf of an ageing relative. It was 16 pages long and another glaring example of town hall bureaucracy. Loads of money could be saved by merging councils into one, selling off buildings, and also taking the knife to excessive salaries for council chiefs and reducing heavily subsidised pensions.

Something must be done soon to stop council tax bills becoming like monthly mortgage payments.

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