Council tax in Swindon is to increase by the maximum amount allowed.

Taxpayers in the borough will be asked to pay between £1,366 and £4,532 in council tax in the next financial year, starting in April.

The lowest figures cover a Band A home in the parish of Ingelsham, while the highest are Band D houses in Highworth.

Swindon Borough Council agreed to put up its portion of the council tax bill - by far the biggest part - by 4.99 per cent as the Labour administration passed its budget for the coming year.

The average for a Band D household will be £2,086 – although that figure is reached by averaging the precepts levied by the different parish councils.

The money will party for services from the borough council, parish councils and Wiltshire Police and The Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service.

The different portions – called precepts – are bundled up into one bill and sent out by the council which collects the money and parcels it out to the different organisations.

The increase of 4.99 per cent is made up of two parts - a two per cent increase, mandated by the government, which will be ring-fenced for adults’ social care, and 2.99 per cent for other day-to-day spending.

Introducing the budget on Thursday night, the cabinet member for finance Councillor Kevin Small said: “This is a financially sound budget which protects services for Swindon.

He said that decreasing levels of government support over the last 14 years had meant that service had had to be cut and more pressure put on staff to do more with less but added: “This keeps this council financially valuable when so many authorities are really struggling.”

The Labour cabinet was attacked by opposition Conservative members for putting council tax up by the maximum.

Conservative members introduced their own amendments which would have seen council tax rise by 3.37 per cent.

Deputy group leader Councillor Dale Heenan said: “This is a fully-funded alternative budget, not just tinkering around the edges as the Labour group sided in opposition.

“It takes a new approach, a more commercial approach to the council’s assets, and using AI to save costs, allowing services to be funded without automatically putting up tax increases.”

And Councillor Jake Chandler made reference to a pledge at the start of the 2023 local government campaign by Labour’s national leader Keir Starmer, where he said that had Labour been in power in 2023 it would have mandated a council tax freeze that year.

Cllr Chandler said: “Labour lies, council tax rise” repeating himself three times.

But Labour leader of the council Councillor Jim Robbins took exception.

He said: “That pledge said that if Labour were in government, they’d have frozen council tax in 2023.

“Unfortunately, we still don’t have a Labour government and it’s not 2023.

“I’d also ask why, if the Conservatives have found it so easy to come up with a budget without needing a maximum council tax rise, they didn’t do it when they were in power here, which included last year’s budget. When was the last time the Conservatives didn’t put up council tax by the maximum when they were in power?”

Cllr Small added: “It’s easy to come up with proposals like this when you’re not responsible. I don’t think The Conservatives would be doing this if they were standing here.

“But they can play politics, that’s fine. It’s our job to provide a sound financial budget."

The Conservative amendments to the budget were defeated by the Labour majority, which was also supported by the one Liberal Democrat councillor, and it was the same story for the substantive budget motion – passed by Labour and Liberal Democrat votes while Conservative members voted against or abstained.