Council tax rises signify yet another broken promise from Labour

Another day, another pre-election promise broken by Labour.

Millions of people in England are facing council tax rises above the normal limit, after the government allowed six areas to bypass a 5% cap on increases.

Usually, local authorities with social care duties can only raise council tax every year by up to 4.99% without a referendum, while others can increase it by up to 2.99%.

But the government has now confirmed that Bradford Council will be allowed an increase of 10%, while Newham and Windsor and Maidenhead will both be allowed a 9% rise.

Birmingham, Somerset and Trafford will be allowed to increase their bills by 7.5%.

Even for those councils who have not applied for special dispensation to increase council tax by more than the permitted 4.99%, 9 out of 10 are putting council tax up by the maximum they are allowed, meaning significant rises for the vast majority of households across the UK.

This in spite of PM Keir Starmer publicly stating that, should Labour be elected into power, he would immediately freeze council tax.

The Labour leader said in March 2023: “We’re announcing today that Labour would freeze next year’s council tax, using windfall tax on profits [on oil and gas companies]. It’s a choice the government can make now that money is on the table.”

Yet again, the Labour Party have made false promises, committing to freezing council tax and then failing to deliver on those promises once in power.

It is just the latest in a long line of lies and broken promises from this Labour government.

We have seen energy bills increasing for the third time since Labour came to power, despite promising to cut bills by £300 if elected. Farmers were promised no changes to Agricultural Property Relief or Inheritence Tax, but were betrayed in Rachel Reevs’ November budget.

Sidiq Khan deliberately lied about the impact of ULEZ zones on pollution levels in London in order to justify forcing through his plans to expand the ULEZ boundaries. These are just some of the lies Labour have been guilty of since being charged with the governance of our country.

For a party that promised to ‘clean up politics’, their record of lies and broken promises to date is far from exemplary.