GREEN party councillors want to give people in York chance to vote on major increases in council tax to stop social care cuts.

City councillors are due to meet on Thursday to vote on finances for 2017/18, and the Conservative - Lib Dem ruling coalition has proposed a council tax increase of 3.7 per cent.

However Green councillors have tabled their own alternative, saying cuts to vital care services for elderly and disabled people are so drastic council tax should go up by 10 per cent, which would trigger a local referendum.

York Press:

The group’s finance spokesperson Cllr Denise Craghill said: “These Government funding cuts hit the most vulnerable in our community, and we believe it right that they should be protected, if necessary through a council tax increase above the norm to bring our council tax level up about what is paid in the East Riding or North Lincolnshire.”

Group leader Cllr Andy D’Agorne added: “As Government support for local services tapers to nothing we have to increase our own resilience and adding the price of a cup of tea or a half of beer once a week to our council tax is surely a price worth paying to maintain these vital services.”