Local authorities should be allowed to increase council tax, the Tory chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA) will argue today. 

In a keynote speech at the LGA's annual conference, Lord Porter will call for the Government to scrap the need to hold a referendum on raising council tax above a centrally-fixed threshold.

He will say: ‘Councils can no longer be expected to run our vital local services on a shoestring. 

‘We must shout from the rooftops for local government to be put back on a sustainable financial footing.

‘Every penny in local taxation collected locally must be kept by local government and spent on our public services. 

‘The cap on council tax also needs to be lifted to ensure new money can be raised locally and spent locally.

‘Local government is the fabric of our country, even more so during this period of uncertainty for the nation.'

Lord Porter will warn that 75p in every £1 of core government funding to councils will be cut by 2020.