COUNCIL taxes could shoot up by as much as five per cent after the Chancellor lifted the cap on how much local authorities could charge.

But Cheshire West and Chester's leader accused him of 'passing the buck' in an effort to repair the county's finances.

Jeremy Hunt took to the dispatch box earlier today to announce a raft of tax rises and spending cuts aimed at trying to plug a £55bn national funding black hole.

One of the measures was raising the limit on which a councils can increase council tax without automatically triggering a local referendum. That figure had been two per cent for basic council tax, and an additional one per cent for social care precept – a total of three per cent.

That has now been raised to three per cent for basic, and two percent for social care – a total of five per cent. This means that from April next year, a council could hike council tax by five per cent without local voters having a say.

Cllr Louise Gittins, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, claimed this was an effort to ‘pass the buck’ for funding shortfalls to local authorities and also criticised the impact of Liz Truss's 'mini budget' and the resulting market turmoil which left a sizeable dent in the country's coffers.

She said:  “The autumn statement doesn't make families in Cheshire West better off. It offers only managed decline, with working people paying the price for 12 weeks of Conservative chaos and 12 years of Conservative economic failure.

"The government is passing the buck on funding for essential services to councils. After 12 years of raiding council budgets and with over half a billion pounds taken from Cheshire West, the government knows that council tax will never bridge the funding gap they have created."

But Cllr Margaret Parker, Leader of the Conservative group at the council, said ‘nobody was immune ‘ to the cost of living crisis, calling the Chancellor’s decisions ‘tough but fair’.

She said: “Inflation makes everyone poorer, that is why the government’s number one priority is get a firm grip on it, so that it comes down as soon as possible.

“Cheshire West and Chester Conservatives welcome the Chancellor’s announcement of more money for schools and the NHS, his plan to boost economic growth and confirmation that the triple-lock will be maintained for our pensioners, together with important targeted support for those most vulnerable in our borough in the month’s ahead.”

During his announcement, the Chancellor told the Commons his plan would lead to a 'shallower' recession. But the independent Office for Budget Responsibility said disposable incomes are set to fall by 7.1 per cent  - the lowest levels since records began in 1956, taking incomes down to 2013 levels.