Last week Macclesfield Borough Council rubber-stamped the 6% increases which will mean the average home-owner paying £56 more. In her budget speech, finance committee chairman Clr Sue Kipling blamed the rise on a lack of Government funding.

"We have to ask the council taxpayers to compensate for the shortfall by a Government grant and added compulsory expenditure," she said.

"This is local taxation being used to support national Government. Some call it stealth, I think it is barefaced robbery."

Labour has given Macclesfield just over £7million which is an increase of £40,000 on last year.

Local Conservatives say the amount is well below the national average and has left taxpayers footing the rest of the council's bill.

Yesterday, Knutsford Labour party spokesman Laurie Burton admitted that Cheshire got less from the Government than other counties.

But he said that was because it was a more affluent area and criticised the Tories' figures. "The total grant is greater than ever and has been described by the national Conservatives as an election bribe," he said.

Knutsford residents with homes worth between £68,000 and £88,000 will pay £964 - an increase of £56.

Those who have properties worth more than £370,000 can expect to pay more than £1,928.

But Clr Kipling told the Knutsford Guardian that the increase will only maintain services not improve them.

"We have still managed to keep the rise to less than £10/year at band D which is just over the cost of a second class stamp per week," she said.