Make Up Your Mind Roxi

Labour has been distributing leaflets. Good for them. It’s what political parties do.

Prominent amongst the claims made by Mayor Fiaz are that Newham has the lowest council tax in East London. Just how did she manage that after raising council tax by the maximum every year that she has been in office?

The answer is very simple. She inherited the lowest council tax rates in Outer London.

The trouble is, that she previously seemed to think that low tax rates were a bad thing and that that dreadful Robin Wales had deprived her of tens of millions of pounds which she could have splashed on her pet projects.

This is what her own report says about the Council Tax freeze:

“This has contributed to Newham having the lowest council tax in outer London, but had council tax been increased by the maximum amount available in each of those years the council would have collected c£82m additional cash over the period, and would now be receiving an additional c£19m per year in its ongoing budget.” 

When talking to Labour Group, low tax is bad. When talking to the electorate, it is good. It does sound rather as if someone is talking out of both sides of her mouth.

We’ve revisited the records from the estate agency Kinleigh, Folkard  & Hayward.  They illustrate the continuous rise of council tax under Mayor Fiaz. They include the added precept from the Mayor of London. 

You will note an increase of 6.1% across the board for last year. In 2018, Band D residents would have paid £1258.77. By 2021 this figure had grown to £1467.33. This is in addition to new parking charges which are costing many households hundreds of pounds. We’re not sure how wise it was of Labour to blame ALL of the tax hikes on the Tories. Somebody might notice what they’ve been up to.

In 2019 there were some councillors who were willing to speak out against this. Not so now it seems.

Fiaz also seems to be taking credit for the free school meals scheme. This is the same scheme that she wanted to abolish! And the Warm Home grants come from Westminster. We’re not entirely sure what Newham Labour are trying to say here, it seems to be “Thanks to the Tories and the previous administration we’re doing some good stuff. We haven’t got anything new, but vote for us anyway. Oh, and please ignore the fact that we are pushing up taxes too.”