07:18

Some intriguing small print in the costings document for Labour’s manifesto: the party will give an immediate injection of £1.5bn to local authorities in the next fiscal year (2018-19) to try to slow the pace of council cuts.

It will also “initiate a review into reforming council tax and business rates and consider new options, such as a land value tax, to ensure local government has sustainable funding for the long term”.

The valuations on which council tax payments are based have failed to keep pace with house prices in recent years, so the current system is not very progressive, and indeed, some experts think it’s so unfair it should be scrapped.

A land value tax, meanwhile, is a bold policy that aims to capture some of the gains of rapid increases in property prices so that the benefits can be spent on local infrastructure, for example. Labour clearly felt it would be too politically tricky to put in the manifeso – but it seems they’re at least toying with the idea.