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| Croydon Labour's Rose Is Dead |
Croydon Borough Council in London voted this week to hit residents with a FIFTEEN PERCENT INCREASE TO COUNCIL TAX!
by Andrew D Pope, 10th March 2023
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| Co-Founder of Southampton Independents and Former Independent Councillor Andrew Pope |
Croydon Labour Makes Residents Pay For Labour Bankrupting Croydon
This massive increase to council tax bills is during:
- a cost-of-living crisis for citizens
- with inflation running at record levels
- energy bills through the roof
- mortgages doubling for many people
And all with "Southampton boy" Rishi Sunak's Conservative Government running the worst-performing economy in the G7 of industrialised nations. It is no wonder that the Conservatives are so far behind in the opinion polls, given their atrocious record in Government. And it is no wonder that the Southampton Conservative Leader Councillor Dan Fitzhenry declined to comment, when we gave him the opportunity to defend the Conservatives locally and nationally.
But are Labour any better? No, they are not. The evidence is clear from Croydon, from Liverpool (more later) and here in Southampton. Southampton Council's own outgoing Chief Financial Officer issued the warning last month, and then left almost immediately after as exclusively revealed by Southampton Independents.
Labour or Tory, Same Old Story
As reported by Inside Croydon, Labour councillors abstained on the vote to allow the Conservative Elected Mayor to bring in a 15% increase to council tax. They had previously said that they would vote it down, but they caved into pressure, instead of standing up for Croydon residents.
It was Labour councillors that had allowed Croydon to slip into bankruptcy over years. They were running the Council.
Previously, the Conservative Government brought in a law meaning that a Referendum was needed for council tax increases of 5% or more. But the Tories now are welching on that protection for citizens. It seems that the Government is going to allow Croydon Tories to impose 15% on citizens. That is not democracy. It is undemocratic, because the people of Croydon do not want it as proved by a heavily-backed petition.
Croydon Does Not Have A Functioning Democracy
It was Inside Croydon and local citizens - and not other media outlets - who exposed the Labour councillors for the charlatans that they are. Not only did Labour and Tory councillors let Croydon residents down, other media outlets did too.
This is what passes for "democracy" in Croydon, with a failing Council, failing councillors and officers and local media who were not reporting on what mattered. It was only Inside Croydon, founding member of a community news network, that exposed the full truth.
Effectively, unelected bureaucrats were brought in from Whitehall (called an Improvement Panel) to take over from the failed councillors.
So Croydon became not a democracy, but a bureaucracy imposed from Central Government, because councillors had abrogated their responsibility to represent the people and protect public money.
Then Labour were voted out, somewhat unsurprisingly, and an Elected Mayor was voted in, who is a Conservative. He claimed, somewhat echoing former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, that "there is no alternative" to the 15% increase.
There are alternatives, in the decisions made, in spending priorities, in alternative budgets and in alternatives to the Westminster parties. They are called independent councillors. But Croydon has no independent councillors.
Croydon Labour councillors did not bring forward an alternative budget. If they had, perhaps they could have salvaged some respectability from their previous bankrupt decisions.
But they did not. Instead, by abstaining on the vote, they allowed the Tories to knife the public yet again.
So it is the people of Croydon who will be bailing out the finances of Croydon, caused by councillors who failed in their public duty to look after the public finances of the Borough.
Could It Happen in Southampton?
Yes it could... Why and how?
Southampton Independents has reported on Labour-run Southampton City Council ever since we were formed. We have shown that they have spent public money on the wrong things, while neglecting the City and the priorities that residents want money to be spent on. I resigned from Labour because they were making the wrong decisions for Southampton and co-founded Southampton Independents.
We have reported on Southampton Labour councillors flogging off public land below market rates, and failing to get maximum value for the taxpayer. And doing it in secret, behind-closed-doors.
We have reported on the way they appointed senior officers in secret and handed out a fortune of public money to those senior officers while the finances of Southampton slip towards bankruptcy.
We have reported on the weak Conservative Opposition, who had control of the Council for just one year. Councillor Dan Fitzhenry as Leader of the Conservatives declined to comment when we asked him about his alternative budget. He did not have one. Yet we understand that Fitzhenry is telling his Conservative colleagues that they could take control of the Council in the all-out elections in May.
When you have a weak and incompetent Leader like Councillor Satvir Kaur, and a Cabinet that is clueless, with an Opposition that seems more like a cheerleader, it is the public that suffers.
That is exactly what happened in Croydon.
And in Liverpool too, also run by Labour... but more of that another time.
What Will Happen in Southampton?
If Labour continue with control of Southampton City Council, they will have to plug the financial blackhole that they have created, with the help of Conservative councillors and the chaotic Conservative Government that has slashed grant funding to councils since 2010.
One way to do that is to cut spending.
Can't Pay Won't Pay
Another is to put up council tax. They have already put it up AGAIN this year.
I have written to Southampton City Council Leader Councillor Satvir Kaur to offer her a right of reply. She has not responded.
I have also warned her that any such attempt to raise council tax along the lines of her Croydon Labour colleagues, will be resisted.
In Croydon, they have already began a "Can't Pay, Won't Pay" campaign and thousands of residents have signed up.
Could it happen in Southampton? Yes it could. Will it? We will see.
