TORY Minister Eric Pickles declared 20 councils “lazy” and accused them of “waging class war on business” yesterday, as he crushed hopes for a “Tesco tax” windfall from big supermarkets.

Derby City Council, which has been ordered by the government to find £60 million in cuts in the next three years, led the charge to use the Sustainable Communities Act to levy multibillion-pound chains and plough the cash back into local services.

Councils had hoped to raise up to £400m a year through the plan, arguing that it was fair because big firms drained money away from local economies.

But the proposal to raises business rates by up to 8.5 per cent for large supermarkets needed government approval.

Instead Mr Pickles, claiming bizarrely to be standing up for “hard-working people,” sprung to the defence of big business and told councils to cut taxes.

“This government supports free enterprise,” he added.