Council Tax up AGAIN

ROBERTSON ACCUSES MINISTERS OF LYING AFTER PUBLICATION OF OFFICIAL REPORT INTO KENT'S COUNCIL TAX INCREASES

Hugh Robertson has today bitterly attacked the government for lying over last year’s council tax increases. The attack follows the publication of a report by the local government watchdog, the wholly independent Audit Commission, into last year’s increase.

Across England, council tax has risen by an average of 70% since Labour came to power. The average band D council tax has risen from £616 to £1,073 in Faversham. Hugh has received hundreds of letters from constituents, most notably the elderly, complaining about the increase.

The problems lie in two areas:

Firstly, the Audit Commission Report confirms that Ministers ordered councils to spend more on services without giving them sufficient money to cover the increases. In Kent, the government instructed KCC to give schools a 6.6% rise in funding and Social Services an 8.6% rise. The report concludes that the grant increase to the council was only 3.9%.

Secondly, the Audit Commission confirms that the government has redistributed money from the South to its political heartlands in the Midlands and the North. In Kent, this has resulted in the council tax payer paying 35% of KCC’s budget compared to 25% in 1996.

Again, the Audit Commissions concludes: “There was a clear association between the size of grant increase a council receives and its increase in council tax.”

Hugh said: “This wholly independent report proves what we have all suspected for some time.

“The government is responsible for the huge increase in council tax bills that have hit everybody in Kent but particularly the elderly and the vulnerable.

“They under funded their spending commitments and transferred the grant away from Kent for political reasons.

“Ministers have constantly claimed that the fault lies with KCC and not them.

“This report shows that to be a lie.”