Council Tax Freeze

Although funding from central government is welcome to help freeze Council Tax next year, it is only a small amount back from the hike in VAT that every family has had to pay.

This Daily Mail article showed how the VAT rise would cost £448 a year for a typical family

So the saving of £72 a year from freezing the Council Tax reduces the impact of the Tory Tax rises to £376.

Of course it impacts on local councils in the long term as it erodes their tax base. It also puts more funding pressure onto central government. Hardly a localist agenda.

Give me a choice and Id cut VAT back to 17.5% and put the Council Tax up by 2.5%!

It is the same story on the money found for weekly bin collections by the Government. £800million is a lot of cash, but once again it the Tory governments centralising instinct.  It also raises the question, why have local goverment if the central government wants to tell local councils how and when to pick up their rubbish.

I want to see weekly bin collections, as we dont have proper recycling services in Croydon at the moment. You cant recycle Tetra Packs (cartons) and you cant recycle some other plastics.

However, it is up to the local voters to choose a council that delivers for them. I hear you cry that the Tories promised weekly bin collections in Croydon, and are the same ones introducing fortnightly collections...