Council tax is set to rise as part of a £700 million police funding boost to be announced within weeks. The cash injection comes after years of warnings from forces about an increase in violent crime and reductions in officer numbers across the country.

Bills could go up by as much as £24 a year for each household in England and Wales. The move was agreed after it emerged that Theresa May was facing a Tory rebellion over police funding, with MPs demanding action over violent crime.

The dispute prompted weeks of fraught negotiations between Philip Hammond, the chancellor, and Sajid Javid, the home secretary, with the spectre of up to 80 Tory MPs rebelling in a vote in the new year.

The decision to