A 5% tax hike by Coventry City Council is very likely, says a leader

The Labour-led council must save an extra £10m this year to balance its budget.

Duggins said this was helped by the chancellor’s budget, which included an extra £1.3 billion for local government in 2025-26.

“We hope to be in a better position than we were before,” he said.

But when asked to rule out a maximum council tax increase of 4.99%, he said: “I think it’s very likely we’ll be working on that assumption.

“The government has made it clear that they are working on the assumption that the government will increase council tax by 4.99%.

“We plan on that basis.”

On Wednesday, the prime minister’s spokeswoman said that the city tax threshold “remains unchanged”.

The threshold for a vote or referendum is 5% for councils that have social responsibilities and 3% for councils that do not.