Linking services and property tax is a mistake

It would be hard to create a more perfect muddle than that around the household charge, which has been a fiasco for the Government and for the Department of the Environment in particular.

It will be a godsend to the hard left, to whom any form of property tax — apart from a tax on “the rich” we must guess — is anathema.

It will be an albatross around the neck of Labour, who will find themselves fining and taking to court possibly a million people, hardly the best thing to do if you want them to ever vote for you again.