BURY'S Council leader has criticised the borough's Tory MPs for not voting against a council tax hike during the pandemic saying the "cupboard is bare" when it comes to funding.

The local government funding settlement will result in a "Conservative council tax bombshell", Labour's shadow communities secretary, Steve Reed MP said.

Mr Reed told the Commons: "What the Chancellor and the Communities Secretary trumpeted as an increase in funding for councils was nothing of the sort because what we got instead of the promised end to austerity was a Conservative council tax bombshell.

"The Government made a choice to clobber hard-pressed families with a 5% council tax rise after the Government's mistakes led our country into the worst recession of any major economy."

He added: "The timing really couldn't be worse. The Tory tax hike will land on people's doormats in the same month that over two million people come off the furlough scheme."

Conservative MPs, including Bury’s James Daly and Christian Wakeford, have refused to back Labour’s plan to drop the Government’s council tax rise after the opposition forced, and won, a vote in the House of Commons on government plans to make families pay for the covid-shaped hole in council budgets.

The Government refused to vote against the motion - and instead abstained - meaning it passed 210 votes to 0.

The vote followed an appeal from Labour leader Keir Starmer to stop the council tax rise and provide certainty to millions of struggling families who face additional blows to their household incomes from frozen pay and a cut to Universal Credit.

Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, leader of Bury Council, said: “Why is it that the Conservatives can find billions in public funds for failed contracts with their mates, but when it comes to places like Bury the cupboard is bare and local people have to pay more? They are forcing council tax bills up instead of funding councils properly.

“Higher bills will hit families in Bury just at the very time millions are worried about the future of their jobs and how they will get through the next few months. This government should not be making families pay for their mishandling of the covid crisis and their broken promises to support councils.”

“The prime minister must listen to the will of the House of Commons – live up to his promise and not force councils to raise council tax to protect vital services during this crisis.”

In December Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced that councils in England can continue to increase tax by up to 2% without a referendum and boost the social care precept by up to 3% in 2021/22.

Mr Jenrick also insisted local authorities are in position to decide whether or not to enforce the increases, claiming they will see their core spending power increase in cash terms by up to 4.5% under the Government’s plans.

Local government "has been and remains at the forefront our response to Covid-19", Mr Jenrick told the Commons, adding: "This Government is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their hour of greatest need."

He said: "We owe them this, the stability, the certainty and the flexibility to plan for a brighter future ahead."

Mr Jenrick branded the debate "absurd and hypocritical", adding: "While we have reduced council tax in real terms under our watch, they (Labour) have increased it time and time again."

Mr Daly reacted angrily to Mr O'Brien's criticisms saying Labour had made a "cheap, political slur".

Mr Daly, MP for Bury North, said: “This Labour Party press release is highly misleading and reduces a serious issue that potentially impacts all our local residents to a disingenuous political soundbite. The Labour Party Motion in question was not opposed by any MP and I definitively did not vote in favour of a council tax hike.

“The choice of whether to raise the Council Tax in Bury and the related precepts for the GM Mayor are a matter for Bury Council and not the Government. The Government has provided well over £100m in additional funding to Bury MBC over the last 12 months and support for business through Council administered grants, something mysteriously missed out of the Bury Labour Leader’s quotes.

"Having been an opposition councillor in Bury for many years I have watched how the Labour party’s fiscal incompetence and mismanagement has disastrously impacted Council finances.

"The choices made by the Labour party in Bury now means that a Band D council tax payer in our Borough now pays £454.57 more per year than they did in 2011 when Labour took power.

"Instead of engaging in a campaign of cheap political slurs, local Labour politicians should be working with the Borough’s MP’s to deliver better outcomes for our residents. Politics over people has always been the Labour way in Bury and it must stop. We need to work together on behalf of everyone in our towns.”