A Tory-dominated council is responsible for one of the highest council tax increases in England - according to figures released by the Conservative Party.

Their research shows the average band D council tax bill in England has risen from £689 in 1997-98 to £1,167 this year - a £478 increase. The party calculates that the rise has resulted in band D householders paying out - over the whole period - around £1,716 more than they would have done if bills had remained unchanged.

But their claim that Richmondshire has had one of the ten biggest cumulative increases in the country has been angrily rejected by local council leader John Blackie.

In 1997-98 Richmondshire's band D households paid £628, but this year their bill was £1,219 - an increase of £591 and a cumulative increase of £2,255.

However Coun Blackie pointed out that the figure includes the precepts for the county council, the police, the fire service and the parishes as well as that of the district authority.

"The Richmondshire share of that figure is no more than £162. We have absolutely no control over the other precepting authorities," he said.

"For instance the police put their precept up by 76 per cent last year. We couldn't do anything about that."

He added: "We have a reputation for being one of the lowest-taxing districts in the country. Last year our rise was 4.5 per cent and this year 5.4 per cent.

"We don't mind getting the blame for £162 - but certainly not for £1,219."

However the Tories are now using their research to blame the Labour Party - saying local councillors are getting the blame for rises which they claim have actually been engineered by the Government.

Estimating that rising council tax bills have cost families more than £1,500 since Labour came to power, Shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman said: "Labour have turned council tax into the ultimate stealth tax - engineered by Gordon Brown to rise by three times the rate of inflation every year, but with local councillors taking the blame when bills hit the doorstep.

"I doubt any household believes that their local public services have improved by the same amount that their local tax bills have soared.

"The truth is that Labour's higher taxes have been wasted on armies of clipboard inspectors, regional talking shops and fat government."