Tory Cuts Result in Labour Hitting the Poorest Hardest
Just who is the Labour Council representing now? It doesn’t seem to be those working on low incomes.
Tory cuts have resulted in less money for local councils. Consequently, as we have noted, services are being cut and taxes are shooting up. It must be said that Newham is not alone.
Research from “The Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA) said poor areas lost out because almost half of properties in its member councils’ areas were in Band A and therefore generated relatively less tax income for councils when increases were imposed”.
“Our analysis has found that the poorest authorities have seen the biggest increases in council tax”, almost 9% more in real terms than Tory heartlands.
This is bad news for the residents of Newham. For some reason Newham was able to operate for ten years without cutting services or increasing council tax. You might wonder whether any of our councillors have given thought to how they did that. The last three years have seen increases (with the London precept) in the region of 20%. Of course, the reason that the current Mayor needs to increase tax is because the previous Mayor didn’t! I guess that that makes sense to her.
Neither the Mayor nor her Cabinet Member for Taxing and Cutting (Cllr Paul) felt the need to express any reservations when she voted for four budgets under Wales and Cllr Paul voted for ten or more. It seems that they were happy with a low tax popular Labour Party, it all seemed so easy when you didn’t have to bother reading the budget.
Of course, as we are well aware, all of the problems are the fault of the previous administration. Leaving a ‘war chest’ of £54m was not enough for Mayor Fiaz as that has just about gone. Nobody who voted for those budgets under Wales is in any way responsible for them. Just as those who chose to increase taxes now and slash services are not responsible.
Just a thought. Has Labour been infiltrated by people who are determined to wreck it from the inside?