Adam Trimingham column

There has been tremendous pressure on the NHS in the last year because of the virus. TV images of the busiest hospitals have shown exactly what staff have had to do to try and save lives.

They are now exhausted after all their efforts which have often involved working long hours in difficult conditions.

People clapped every Thursday evening in streets up and down the land last spring to thank the NHS staff who worked so tirelessly to help those stricken by the virus.

They now think the offer of one per cent is an insult. Strikes have already been threatened and could swiftly cause chaos. One per cent may be better than nothing which is being offered to other public service workers but ministers know it is too little.

To make the rise in any way reasonable, they will have to raid other sources of income and an unexpected candidate is local government.

Most councils were formed in the Victorian era and were financed by local charges on homes called rates.

For a long time rates were not particularly onerous in all but a few places. I remember arriving in Hove in 1967 and paying one pound a week.

But local councils started to claim large sums from householders for expensive services such as adult social care and education.

This made paying the rates a burden, especially for poor people living alone in large houses. They tended to settle in Sussex coastal towns.

Actions were taken to relieve the pressure such as placing strict limits on the rises councils could impose.

Councils such as Brighton were quick to find charging for parking could bring in many millions of pounds. Even now there are only a few London boroughs which make more money from this source than Brighton and Hove.

Councils also get cash from tenants in rents and make money from everything from beach huts to bowling greens. Other charges are immensely complicated and I always found it hard to understand despite patient briefings by officials.

One extra factor was that the Government paid the vast amount of many council functions such as sea defences and education.

Another was that some councils have considerable assets and are not afraid to use them for major projects if other sources are not available.

A good example is the Brighton Centre which was regarded by councillors of all parties as vital for the resort but which the Government refused to back.

Undaunted the council sold a farm at Falmer, some valuable residential land off the London Road north of Preston village and a large site for bulding more homes at Portslade.

But the rates kept on rising until Margaret Thatcher, the long-serving Prime Minister, had the idea of replacing them with a new tax called the community charge based on people rather than property.

After that it was always called the poll tax. And initially it was welcomed by many people as being fair. But anger quickly mounted as the tax was increasing portrayed as regressive and unfair. A huge rally in Trafalgar Square in London turned into a riot with scenes of horrifying violence. Then at Eastbourne a Liberal Democrat called David Bellotti caused a major shock by winning a by-election from the Tories.

It was clear the poll tax played a major part in this reverse and from that moment Mrs Thatcher was doomed. The tax, introduced with such high hopes, had ended her reign.

The new Prime Minister, John Major, quickly introduced a replacement levy called the council tax. It was remarkably similar to the old rates and had several major defects but it was not the poll tax.

Almost 30 years have passed since this temporary tax came into being and it is clear that improvements could and should be made to it. At the same time it could provide a large income to an administration facing the most difficult economic crisis since the Second World War.

Council tax, unlike the poll tax, is hard to avoid and easy to collect. It already brings in billions of pounds.

Using part of its proceeds might enable the government to say it has kept its promise of not putting up income tax or National Insurance contributions.

When council tax bills come out in the next few weeks, most householders will notice they have risen well above the inflation rate. The government has stealthily started to widen the sources of income available to it. But if this will enable it to make a better offer to NHS workers, a smattering of applause might be in order.