Residents in Brent could see their council tax bill rise by up to six per cent from April.

Brent Council proposes increasing its share by 4.99 per cent, while London's mayor is proposing to increase his share of council tax by 9.5pc to fund Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade.

Liberal Democrat councillor Anton Georgiou has called on Brent's Labour leader, Cllr Muhammed Butt, to take action to stop "another massive hike".

He said the increase will place "huge financial pressure on Brent residents in difficult times".

A Band D property would face a total bill of £1,741.92 - an increase of £97.11.

Cllr McLennan, deputy leader of Brent Council, said: “Rather than funding services from central budgets as was repeatedly promised throughout the earlier stages of the pandemic, this government is now choosing to heap pressure on already hard-pressed households, nationwide.

"The services we provide make a massive difference to peoples’ lives – government’s insistence on further austerity means we won’t be able to sustain this help and so are left with little choice than to accept the tax rise.”

She said Brent has one of London’s "most comprehensive council tax support packages" and that people should get in touch if they need help.

Cllr Georgiou said: "In these difficult times, when many Brent residents have lost jobs or seen their income shrink significantly, the Labour administrations in Brent and City Hall should not be making things even worse."

He asked the council leadership what consideration had been made to "dipping into the excessive local reserves so that the cost burden is not passed on to Brent residents".

Brent & Kilburn Times: Cllr Anton Georgiou, Liberal Democrat Councillor, AlpertonCllr Anton Georgiou, Liberal Democrat Councillor, Alperton (Image: Anton Georgiou)

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the council tax increase has been kept to a minimum, despite "huge pressure from government ministers to increase council tax to pay for public transport and policing in the capital".

He said households are more stretched than ever and that the decision was not taken lightly, adding: "Council tax is a regressive tax but the government have left us with little other option."

A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said the government has "committed over £10 billion" to councils to tackle the impacts of Covid-19, and that it is providing £670m to enable them to reduce council tax bills for those least able to pay.