Spelman: Criticised

The Conservatives have been accused of scaremongering over their claims that fines for refusing entry to council tax officers in Ulster are being used as a testing ground for England.

Fines of £1,000 are being introduced for householders in Northern Ireland who refuse to co-operate with local inspectors assessing their homes for council tax.

The Tories claim these powers, introduced via 'orders' by a parliamentary committee, are being used as a trial before being introduced in England.

Shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman said: "These powers are the footprint of an oppressive and greedy government.

"Northern Ireland is now being used as a testing ground for Gordon Brown's tax inspectors, from the levying of a new house price tax, to the use of invasive Big Brother computer databases, to new aggressive state powers to enter family homes."

Sir Michael Lyons, who is heading a review of council tax for the government after the revaluation of properties in England was postponed last year, has said he is "very interested" in the system, where each property is valued individually.

But a spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government dismissed suggestions the new powers were being used as a trial.

The spokesman said: "This amounts to little more than scaremongering.

"It is wrong to suggest that the government is using the current revaluation in Northern Ireland as a testing ground for England.

"Northern Ireland has a different local government finance system to England - for example, council tax was never introduced there - and different considerations apply."

And on the Lyons review, due to report to ministers by the end of the year, the spokesman added: "No decisions will be taken until we have given any proposals contained in his final report proper consideration."

In Northern Ireland, UK Unionist leader Bob McCartney said the issue was being used to force unionists to form a coalition with Sinn Fein in order to stop these proposals.

He said that under the scheme, a widow in a two-up, two-down house could see her rates increased from £700 to £1720.

He said: "How can that be anything other than an attempt to bludgeon and blackmail politicians in Northern Ireland to give Tony [Blair] a legacy as the man who solved the Northern Ireland problem?"