COUNCILLOR Dave Hollings (Letters, April 8) is to be congratulated for exposing the Tony Blair Government's fiddling of the figures by imposing taxation by the back door --on Council Tax instead of national tax.

Yet, the councillor is guilty of gilding the lily. For is it not a fact that Blackburn with Darwen Council has received extra funds at the expense of other councils who have had to increase their tax by as much as 30 per cent to stand still?

He Coun Hollings says the average Council Tax across England and Wales is 12.9 per cent, giving the impression that his council has performed well.

If he took the trouble to add the extra grant to Blackburn with Darwen's increase of nearly 10 per cent, then the figure would be much higher.

He forgets to mention that average Council Tax has increased by 60 per cent since Labour came to office in 1997.

WALT MEADOWS, Whalley New Road, Blackburn.