by
Rachael Chrisp (@rchrisp)
One of the main stories of last month's budget in Reading was the Greens' proposal to raise council tax by 3.5% (around £40 each), arguing that the extra money this would raise could be spent on funding for vulnerable people. In the end, Labour secured a cross-party agreement with the other groups, and passed its budget, securing a freeze in council tax for the next year. Reading has been faced with a huge cut in central government funding but Labour has managed to protect almost all front line services, while restructuring the council to save hundreds of thousands of pounds, such as abolishing the chief executive position or removing backroom inefficiencies. This is something I as a Labour member am proud of.
The Greens' budget amendment to rise Council Tax 3.5% offered no specifics, no suggestion of what new services would be funded or created, simply referring to "vulnerable people". This for me is gesture politics of the highest level, there are vulnerable people that need help and Labour has worked incredibly hard to protect them, reducing Daycare costs, restoring bus passes before 9am for the disabled and their carers and increasing the number of beds for the homeless; for the Greens to simply stroll into a budget making council meeting and present an amendment with no plan of what it will do, where the money will be spent or what impact it will have was poor, they knew that without a coherent plan the other parties wouldn't vote for it but they didn't care because they simply wanted a headline for their next newsletter. Labour has prioritised the funding of services that help vulnerable people, without having to resort to raising the council tax. Had Labour accepted the Greens' amendment, the council would have lost the government's £1.7 million freeze grant, and out of the extra £2.4 million in council tax would only have kept £700 thousand of it to spend in Reading.
To put this into perspective:
Rachael Chrisp (@rchrisp)
The Greens' budget amendment to rise Council Tax 3.5% offered no specifics, no suggestion of what new services would be funded or created, simply referring to "vulnerable people". This for me is gesture politics of the highest level, there are vulnerable people that need help and Labour has worked incredibly hard to protect them, reducing Daycare costs, restoring bus passes before 9am for the disabled and their carers and increasing the number of beds for the homeless; for the Greens to simply stroll into a budget making council meeting and present an amendment with no plan of what it will do, where the money will be spent or what impact it will have was poor, they knew that without a coherent plan the other parties wouldn't vote for it but they didn't care because they simply wanted a headline for their next newsletter. Labour has prioritised the funding of services that help vulnerable people, without having to resort to raising the council tax. Had Labour accepted the Greens' amendment, the council would have lost the government's £1.7 million freeze grant, and out of the extra £2.4 million in council tax would only have kept £700 thousand of it to spend in Reading.
To put this into perspective:
- Out of the £40 per household tax rise, £30 would go straight to central government, leaving only £10 for Reading
- Labour is protecting services by restructuring the council, not by raising taxes.
- The Greens' amendment was presented without any detail, no details of what services it would fund of what the impact it would have, it was just gesture politics.
When Labour regained minority control of the council the Greens told everyone that they would hold the balance of power and be able to get the best deal for Park ward residents - a year on I see very little evidence of this. The Greens have resorted to gesture politics, you can see this in their lack of coherent vision for Reading, for example in Park ward the Greens are campaigning to have the Cemetery opened up to make it a walkthrough (at a cost of £10,000 I should add), whereas in Caversham the Greens are campaigning against the amount of cyclists that ride through a local cemetery, saying it shouldn't be used a shortcut.
My party is making the tough decisions in a fair way that is right for Reading, the Greens may believe that it's fair to ask everyone to pay an extra £40 per year in council tax, but I know for a lot of families that's a weekly shopping trip and in this economic climate people can't afford to be £40 out of pocket - I hope that at the local elections the voters of Park ward choose to elect a Labour councillor to stand up for Park in a Labour-controlled council.
