Uttlesford’s Liberal Democrat group has mocked the leader of Uttlesford District Council ahead of tonight’s crunch budget discussions – depicting him as Postman Pat for dismissing a £4.25 tax rebate idea.

Howard Rolfe was responding to a proposal by the Lib Dems that instead of cutting council tax by 3 per cent for the forthcoming financial year – as proposed by the ruling Conservative group – each household should be given a £4.25 rebate.

People would wonder why they had received a cheque for £4.25, he argued, suggesting the public would question whether it was worth it because the amount “would barely cover the cost of the postage”.

The comment did not go down well with the Lib Dems and fellow political group Residents-for-Uttlesford (R4U). A graphic mocking the Uttlesford Conservatives’ ‘In Touch’ election leaflet, posted on the blog of Liberal Democrat leader Alan Dean and R4U’s Facebook page, included a postage stamp with Cllr Rolfe’s face on an image of children’s cartoon character Postman Pat.

The graphic includes a breakdown of some of the everyday items families could buy with £4.25.

Cllr Dean had previously said his group believed the rebate was a “fairer” approach, claiming that the Conservative option would “give back £8.58 to people in the most expensive houses”, while one-third that amount, £2.86, would go to people in the lowest valued homes.

Cllr Rolfe rubbished the suggestion that a rebate was fairer. “It’s better doing it through the proper mechanism,” he said, referring to the Tory approach to cut the district council’s portion of council tax by 3 per cent.

• Check back to the Reporter’s website to find out the outcome of the budget discussions.