Just as we’d all thought the prospect of a bin tax had been swept away, it’s back again! Government Ministers seem to have revived proposals for bin taxes that could cost families £100 per year.

Charges could start as soon as next year when local authorities transfer the control of refuse collection to the Joint Waste Authorities, a central government quango. The fact is that this body will be free to introduce bin taxes without the fear of a revived voter backlash.

The Enviroment Minister, Jane Kennedy, said that the Waste Authority could put forward a new proposal to test “a waste incentive scheme” in any area in which it had responsibility for waste collection.

What weasel words. Lets call a spade a spade. “A waste incentive scheme” means a bin tax.

Even the legal powers which support a bin tax remain on the statute book. So whilst the Government failed earlier this year to presuade or bully, any local council to introduce bin taxes, it looks as if they will creep around the back door.