Conservatives Challenged On Council Tax (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Conservatives Challenged On Council Tax

November 17, 2009 5:20 PM

audit • WE challenge the Conservatives to come clean over their spending plans: they claim that, should they take power both nationally and locally in 2010, they would limit council spending increases to just 2.5 %. This would be an arbitrary limit that took no account of the growth in demand for local services. Imposing it would force a Conservative Council to make massive service cuts that would affect the most vulnerable members of society.

Cllr Stephen Knight, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources, writes: "The Tories haven't got a clue whether their sums will add up not and don't seem to care. They have run a relentlessly negative campaign over the last four years criticizing as "too little" any spending commitments we have made. They have tried to convince the electorate that they would spend more on just about everything, including libraries, waste collection, home care services, school sixth forms and even Christmas lights. Now they would have us believe that all this will be possible with massive unbudgeted spending cuts. If you then take into account that they plan to lumber the borough with an enormous bill for an alternative scheme for Twickenham Riverside, then it's clear that the sums just won't add up."

"Whilst we run the Council we will continue to make it more efficient and improve value for money. Our aim is to keep the Council Tax as low as possibly whilst providing the essential services that our residents rely on. We will never make tax promises that we can't keep and won't make a gimmick out of public spending. When the Conservatives last ran the Council they gave us massive council tax hikes of 30 % over 4 years whilst leaving chronic under-investment in vital infrastructure such as schools and youth clubs. We will continue to be honest with the electorate and make decisions about council tax based upon the needs of the borough at the time when the budget has to be set. What we won't do is jeopardize front line services in pursuit of eye-catching headlines."

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: