Jeremy Hunt has today paved the way for massive increases in Council Tax over the next five years, raising the ceiling on increases to five per cent.

Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani said: “Local authorities are facing crippling increases in social care costs, especially in Oldham. It is absolutely crucial that we pay for social care to keep vulnerable adults and children safe, and this is the reason why bills go up year on year.

“Instead of funding social care properly, Jeremy Hunt has again piled the cost of this on to the local authorities who can least afford it.

“In four months’ time, when Oldham’s annual budget comes around, local Conservatives will – as they do every year – complain about the increase which their Conservative Government has demanded.

“It is hypocrisy of the highest order. You either care for people or you abandon them. The Conservatives don’t care about people, and this is just making sure that they can point the finger at someone else.

“When the cost of living is going through the roof, the Government should be doing everything it can to ensure that the burden is being shared fairly. Instead it is dishing out tax rises to pay for the catastrophic Conservative crisis that was Liz Truss.

“The only thing it is interested in sharing is the blame.”