‘Lib Dem council tax rise is cruel’: Hull Labour group reveals budget proposals

‘COUNCIL SHOULD BE DOING MORE TO HELP’: Labour group leader Daren Hale. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography

By Simon Bristow

Hull’s opposition Labour group has announced its budget proposals for 2023/24, including a commitment to only raise council tax by 2.99 per cent.

That is a full two points lower than the 4.99 rise proposed by the ruling Liberal Democrats - the maximum allowed - which Labour today called “indefensible and cruel”.

The Lib Dem budget, and the Labour amendment, will be debated at the next full meeting of Hull City Council on Thursday, at which the authority’s budget will be voted on and set.

Both parties’ proposed council tax hikes include a two per cent Adult Social Care precept.

Outlining its amendment today, Labour said: “The Labour Group has decided that this year, because of the extraordinary financial times we all find ourselves in, the priority for the council must be to help local residents who are being hit hard by spiralling gas and electricity bills, soaring inflation that is forcing up food bills, and a war in Ukraine that threatens peace and also impacts on economic stability.

“Labour believes that now is not the time to raise council tax to the maximum allowed or to do the same with rents. This is especially so given that the Government appears paralysed, divided and refuses to help resolve this crisis which is mainly of their own doing following the disastrous Truss/Kwarteng budget a few months ago.

“People are having to chose between heating their homes or feeding their families and themselves. In these extraordinary circumstances, local councils like Hull must put its residents first, even if that means pain.

“Labour will not increase council tax to the maximum of 4.99 per cent as the Liberal Democrats intend to do. Labour will raise the base Council Tax Budget by 0.99 per cent and will also accept the 2 per cent Adult Social Care precept, a total figure, without the police or fire and rescue service precepts, of only 2.99 per cent.”

In another departure from the Lib Dems’ budget, Labour said it would freeze rents for the next financial year. The Lib Dems are proposing a seven per cent increase on rent.

Labour said under the Lib Dems’ proposals, a band D property in Hull would see a council tax rise of £77, which with the police or fire service precepts added could mean an increase of over £100.

The Labour statement accompanying its budget amendment said: “This increase is essentially to pay for their so called ‘Spring Clean’, which most communities will not see until next year, but will start paying for it in April.

“Labour, instead, propose to use Capital and Revenue spending to deliver a better clean up, our ‘War on Waste’ which will end the postcode lottery of Bring Out Your Rubbish Days’; (BOYRD); by making them available across all wards with a matched contribution from Ward Community Initiative Budgets.”

Labour group leader, Councillor Daren Hale, said: “We are in the middle of a cost-of-living nightmare and the Government is doing nothing to help, so it is incumbent on local authorities to act to protect local people and help them through this extremely challenging time.

“Now is not the right, or moral, time to increase council tax and rents by the absolute maximum allowed, and to consider doing so right now is indefensible and cruel.

“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and that is what we will propose. Councillors in the meeting on Thursday will be presented with two alternative approaches. The Liberal Democrat Budget that makes things much worse for local people or the Labour Budget Amendment that seeks to provide help and support. Each individual councillor is going to have to decide for themselves what to do for their residents.”

The Lib Dems said its budget, announced earlier this month, would fund a range of initiatives, including a £1.5m High Streets Support Fund; a £1m Spring Clean programme, a doubling of the Crime Prevention Fund to £500,000, and £100,000 for new “Pocket Parks”.

The Lib Dems won power from Labour at last year’s local elections, ending more than a decade of Labour control at the Guildhall. The next round of local elections are in May.