Keighley MP Kris Hopkins will demand a change in the law to force town and parish councils to hold a referendum if they propose a precept rise of two per cent or more.
He said he wants this to apply to all councils in future, including Keighley’s, as it now applies to district councils.
He said he was responding to “understandable anger” over Keighley Town Council’s 72.6 per cent precept rise.
His comments provoked a sharp response from town mayor Councillor George Metcalf, who said the MP was “conspicuous by his absence” when it came to town council affairs.
He argued that Mr Hopkins’s own Government introduced the Localism Bill, which includes devolution of power from central government.
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