In a letter, Westminster City Council’s Paul Swaddle, Wandsworth Council’s Robert Morritt and Kensington and Chelsea Council’s Elizabeth Campbell said the government’s funding formula “punishes low tax councils”.
They said: “If our councils do not impose council tax rises, our communities face considerable cuts in funding for local services.
“This is not just devolving blame, it is devolving council tax rises and government cuts.
“This is fiddled funding, cooked up in Whitehall but leaving town halls to carry the blame.”
The three leaders added: “These tax rises are in addition to the new top-up council tax on many homes in our councils – and none of the revenues from this tax penalty will be retained by councils or by the mayor of London.
“There is nothing local about it.”
Six councils have been granted two-year “funding realignment powers”, which enables them to increase council tax beyond the 5% threshold.
The three Conservative leaders said their councils had been “singled out” for this, alongside the City of London, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Windsor and Maidenhead.
They argued that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government “assumed massive rises in council tax” in their areas to compensate for cuts to central government funding when publishing its Local Government Finance Settlement.
