People’s average council tax bill has almost doubled since Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister in May 1997, according to a recent analytical report from mortgage lending bank Halifax.

The rise, from £550 to nearly £1,100, is three times higher than the rate of inflation and twice the rise in annual earnings, standing at 91% higher than 10 years ago.

“This is an appalling indictment of a Government that was supposed to be reducing the burden of taxation on ordinary people,” said property expert Mark Saville.

“With increases in other levels of personal taxation, many people are now far worse off than when New Labour came to power with promises on taxation that have been proved to be so much hot air.”

But the Local Government Association (LGA) has dismissed the report as a “rehash” of old information and said that councils needed extra money to deal with an ageing population and profound social change like the massive influx of immigrants into some areas of the UK.

Average earnings have increased by 51% over the past 10 years and retail price inflation has gone up 31%, with the typical UK household now paying £1,078 in council tax a year, compared to £564 in the 1997/98 financial year.