Smiling inside

I’d love to be in No10 right now. Gordon Brown will simply hate George Osborne’s council tax freeze plan – it will look, smell and sound too much like one of his own scams, and he’ll be hurling staplers and barking orders at his men to shoot down this balloon before it takes off. Yet it’s real enough. Just as last year, Osborne has identified a hugely unpopular tax (council tax), decided to freeze rather than cut it in keeping with the spirit. And he’ll pay for this by cutting something even less popular (consultants and Big Brother government advertising). And to top it off, only make the offer to councils who play ball with a Tory government in Whitehall and keep their own tax increases to 2.5%.
 
I bumped into Osborne just after (smiling enough to compensate for all his sternness on stage – he knows he’s nailed it) and asked him if he thinks councils will pump up the tax in April 09 and April 10 giving them a high base to cut from.