Manchester Labour

Manchester’s council tax is one of the lowest in Greater Manchester.

And, as the tables below show, the city also has the third lowest council tax of any of the major cities outside London.

Last week, the Labour council agreed to freeze its element of the council tax, giving residents a helping hand in the economic downturn as the UK moves out of recession. Compare this to Tory Trafford where Council Tax will go up by 1.86% or Lib Dem Stockport where hard pressed residents face a massive 4% hike in Council Tax.

Councillor Bernard Priest, Labour's finance boss, said: “Manchester is one of only a handful of major councils not to put up its council tax this year and this is something we are very proud of.  Our ability to keep council tax levels low is down to prudent financial management which means that we can help residents by not adding to the ever growing pressures on their personal finances.

“And we can do this without having to cut essential services such as education and environmental services, indeed we believe we are in a strong position to safeguard and indeed enhance our core services.

“We recently asked nearly 1,000 Manchester residents about our budget priorities to ensure Mancunians agree with our spending plans and I’m pleased to say that an overwhelming majority – 85.6 per cent – said we’ve got our priorities right. They also told us about the things that matter most to them, which has helped us shape our spending plans.”