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Council leader Keith Moffat |
Tax freeze hailed as ‘a victory for silent majority’
THE Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition said a silent majority had won the day after council tax was finally frozen amid the chaos of last Wednesday’s Town Hall riot.
Members voted in favour of the freeze on tax in a controversial budget which saw cuts in voluntary groups’ cash, hundreds of council jobs axed, price hikes for services such as meals-on-wheels and the loss of doorstep recycling collections on estates.
The Kilburn Grange play centre also lost its battle against closure.
Lib Dem council leader Councillor Keith Moffitt said: “Most people will be glad we have not raised council tax. There is a silent majority of people that don’t go marching to the Town Hall to say they are happy.
“Freezing council tax is not about helping wealthy residents, it is about helping everyone. Some of the least-well-off residents struggle to pay council tax. Council tax is an unfair, regressive tax.”
Both sides of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative axis pledged to freeze council tax as part of their election success last year.
Conservative leader Councillor Andrew Marshall said: “Camden residents expect their hard-earned cash to be spent wisely and we’ve taken the responsibility of administering the public’s money very seriously. That’s why we’re putting money where it’s needed, and not simply where it has gone in the past.
“And we’ve made the council do its bit too, making sure we aren’t wasting public money and that we are getting the best value out of everything we do.”
The council chamber riot overshadowed a peaceful march through the streets by anti-cuts protesters – many of whom were members of Unison, the largest union at the Town Hall.
Unison secretary David Eggmore said: “The job cuts total nearly 350. We are opposed not only to the cuts but also to the insensitive and destructive way in which they are being imposed. The new structure proposed by management wipes out whole bands of jobs and replaces them with nothing.”
He added: “There is no need for these cuts. Camden is receiving generous government funding support and has healthy balances.”
The ugly scenes stole attention from the political debate between councillors and the final vote, which saw Labour and Green dissenters outflanked by coalition members.
Labour deputy leader Councillor Theo Blackwell said his party would have set a more realistic “inflation-only” rise in tax, while finance spokesman Councillor Julian Fulbrook added that the council had adopted a “thoughtless, blunderbuss approach.”
Green leader Councillor Adrian Oliver said: “By committing the council to a zero per cent council tax increase in cash terms, the new administration has tied its hands, limiting what it can do for the environment and what would in the longer run be real benefits for us all.”
He added: “A real green budget would mean more investment now to pay for benefits for our children. We need to think in the long-term.”
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