A London council has been accused of telling “porkies” after it claimed to be “freezing council tax” for its fourth year under Labour control.
Wandsworth said borough residents would continue to pay the lowest council tax in the country – currently £990 for a benchmark Band-D property – from April.
It said it was freezing its share of bills – but they will in fact rise by more than £10 a year on average as the proportion of the levy that funds adult social care is increasing by two per cent.
Council tax hikes are particularly sensitive this year because they will take effect a month prior to the May local elections, which will see 32 London borough councils up for re-election.
In Wandsworth, the home borough of London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, Labour will face a challenge retaining power after seizing the council from the Tories in 2022.
Only the part of Wandsworth’s bill that funds council services other than for adult social care will be frozen.
It means that total Band-D bills in Wandsworth will increase by more than £30 a year, to £1,020.35.
This includes an extra £10.15 for council services - taking them to a total of £509.84 - and an additional £20.13 for Sir Sadiq, whose share of the bill increases to £510.51.
However this will be barely half the typical bill in London, where most boroughs will send out demands in excess of £2,000 a year.
Wandsworth’s Labour leader Simon Hogg said the council had one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London.
He told residents: “This allows us to freeze the main element of council tax, keep more money in your pocket and invest in what matters to you.”
However, council documents show the authority will have to draw £38m from reserves to balance its budget in 2026/27 – on top of the £15m it withdrew from reserves for the current financial year.
Aled Richards-Jones, the Tory opposition group leader on Wandsworth council, posted a picture of a council tax bill on X that showed how residents would pay more.
He accompanied his post – in response to a post from Mr Hogg about the “council tax freeze” - with the word “porkies” and a “lying face” emoji.
Porkies 🤥 https://t.co/aZqwEyyRXO pic.twitter.com/zzv4lUYIVm
— Aled Richards-Jones 🇺🇦 (@aled_rj) February 10, 2026
In a letter to residents, Mr Richards-Jones said Labour’s claim to have “frozen” council tax “simply isn’t true – and the reality is shocking”.
In an article on the Conservative Home website, he said a “financial asteroid” was about to hit the council – one of several in the capital having their funding cut by Government.
Mr Richards-Jones said the changes would mean the council would eventually receive £85m a year less from the Government to fund core services – and that council tax would have to rise in future years as a result.
He said the council currently had £166m in reserves – which would soon be exhausted.
He wrote: “The piggy bank will be smashed, the money will be gone and a decision on catastrophic tax hikes, public service cuts, or both, will need to be taken.”
According to the council’s own 2026/27 budget documents, the “new Government funding allocations do disadvantage Wandsworth”.
The council’s Labour leadership has already said it has no plans to use its recently-granted powers to hike bills above five per cent from 2027/28 to plug the gap in Government funding.
The council documents state that Wandsworth will lose £19m in Government funding 2026/27, rising to £79m a year towards the end of the decade.
