Blog: Talking about an ailing economy, recession, cutbacks, and job losses, is not exactly the sort of thing that would go down well at the Conservative Party conference, so George Osborne has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a crowd-pleaser.

He is dipping into his piggy bank, which apparently has enough money still in it for him to fund a freezing of the council tax in England for a second year.

This will, he says, save the average family £72.

It is easy to be cynical about Mr Osborne’s gesture. However, councils have, by and large, shown themselves to be incapable or unwilling to take the sort of measures that will keep council tax down. They have defended their generous salaries at the top, not to mention the generous golden handshakes for their managers, on the basis that they align themselves with similar managers in the private sector.

Yet the comparison falls apart when it comes to making savings. While the private sector battles to retain its core services, councils cut public services, starting with the libraries, and then working their way through a predictable list.

Rather than having Mr Osborne more or less imposing a council tax freeze – although he cannot, in fact, force councils to peg back bills – it would be far better if councils were able to do so thanks to their own efforts.

A lot of people are pointing out that this £72 saving is a drop in the ocean compared with the other bills and costs crowding around British households in the current environment.

Rather than making it a worthless gesture, it actually increases its value. Every little really does help at the moment.