Vince Cable

MP Vincent Cable warned that borough home owners could get a "very nasty shock" from the council tax revaluation, which - according to the government - is due in 2005.

At present council tax is based on notional values in 1991 when council tax was introduced and locally house prices have multiplied greatly since then, more than in the rest of the UK.

Although the precise mechanism of revaluation is not yet clear it seems very likely that high property values will mean much higher council tax bills.

Vincent Cable said: "there is already a lot of unhappiness about the level of council tax and the impact of council tax bills on middle and low income people, especially pensioners."

"Council tax, introduced by the last Conservative government, bears only a tenuous relationship to peoples' ability to pay."

"Local taxation should be linked to income rather than the unique and often arbitrary trends in the property market."