Do Labour or Conservatives have higher council tax?

At Prime Minister's Questions, Rishi Sunak described Labour arsenic "a enactment that stands for higher assembly tax".

Earlier successful the day, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told BBC News: "[Council] taxation successful Labour areas... is astir £80 much than successful Conservative areas".

But Labour is moving a tweet successful which it claims: "Conservative councils already complaint £345 much than Labour ones."

They are talking astir assembly taxation rates successful England, wherever galore areas are holding elections successful May 2023. There are besides elections owed successful Northern Ireland, but they person a abstracted home standing system, not assembly tax.

There are respective questions to reply if you effort to bash this benignant of calculation, which person sizeable interaction connected the answer.

The archetypal question is whether you are lone including councils successful which 1 enactment has an wide majority.

Many councils bash not, successful which lawsuit sometimes 1 enactment volition effort to tally it with a number medication and sometimes determination volition beryllium a coalition.

We asked the Conservatives astir their calculation and they told america they were lone looking astatine councils with an wide bulk that are up for predetermination successful May 2023.

We asked Labour for their methodology and they did not get backmost to us. But they told the Telegraph that if the Conservatives had looked astatine each assembly areas past Labour would person turned retired to beryllium cheaper.

In that article, the Conservatives besides claimed that Tory-run councils complaint £21 little than ones tally by the Liberal Democrats. We asked the Liberal Democrats to remark and they told us: "Liberal Democrats person agelong called for much powers and backing for section authorities, yet twelvemonth aft year, out-of-touch Conservative ministers person slashed budgets and near radical with nary prime but to rise assembly tax."

The Conservatives are comparing the bills paid by radical surviving successful a Band D property.

In England, bands are based connected the worth of a spot successful April 1991 - the higher the worth the higher the set and truthful the higher the assembly tax.

The Band D examination for a household with 2 adults is wide utilized arsenic a mode of comparing what radical successful akin circumstances crossed antithetic areas are paying.

But it is not a emblematic measure due to the fact that that would beryllium affected by the lodging banal successful an area, for example.

To instrumentality that into account, immoderate radical alternatively comparison the mean measure per household.

There are antithetic types of councils: municipality oregon parish councils, territory councils, region councils and unitary authorities. It is important to comparison similar with like.

The Conservatives person averaged the taxes crossed these tiers.

But determination are sizeable difficulties successful this.

Consider, for example, idiosyncratic surviving successful St Albans.

For each £1 they wage successful assembly tax:

So, successful this case, portion the bulk of the charges connected the assembly taxation measure volition person been acceptable by Conservatives connected the region council, immoderate volition besides person been acceptable by Liberal Democrats connected the territory council.

Some parts of a assembly taxation measure whitethorn besides spell to money big societal attraction oregon a mayor, for example, and crucially they whitethorn beryllium acceptable by members of a antithetic enactment to the 1 that sets your main assembly tax.

So however bash you allocate these parts of the bill?

The decisions you instrumentality astir immoderate of these questions tin marque a large quality to the answer, which means you cannot accidental definitively which enactment has the cheapest assembly tax.