Have the Conservatives increased council tax by 15%?
- Published
Labour tweeted about increases in council tax over the weekend.
"The Tories are raising council tax by up to 15%," it said.
Some emphasis needs to be placed on the "up to" in that sentence. Only one council, Croydon, which has no party in overall control, has raised tax by 15%.
The highest after that were two councils that raised it by 10%. These were Labour-controlled Slough and Conservative-controlled Thurrock.
Croydon raised council tax by 15% after declaring bankruptcy because it realised it faced a £130m hole in its budget.
Although the borough has an elected Conservative mayor, the Tories and Labour both have 34 councillors in total. The Green Party has two councillors and the Liberal Democrats one.
The mayor has blamed "the toxic debt and financial failures of the previous administration" for the financial problems. These are partly due to the funding plans for the refurbishment of a concert hall.
A report into the financial problems in Croydon, external found "organisational dysfunction at the most senior level in the council".
The former leader of the council and its former cabinet member for finance, both of whom were Labour councillors, resigned from their roles as did its former chief executive.
Labour councillors in Croydon have previously said that the government should be providing more funding instead of allowing the increase in council tax. They have also said the current administration inherited an underspend as well as a £27m reserve.
How much is council tax going up elsewhere?
The government increased the amount councils were allowed to raise taxes without a referendum to 5% - if they have social care responsibilities - in November's Autumn Statement.
Croydon, Thurrock and Slough councils were given special permission by the government to raise their taxes by more without putting it to a vote.
Thurrock, which is Conservative-controlled, is putting up council tax by 10% after declaring bankruptcy.
Slough, which is Labour-run, is also putting council tax up 10% having declared bankruptcy in 2021 as a result of property and land investments.
Labour also said in its campaign tweet that Conservative councils charge £345 more than Labour ones. We asked Labour how it reached the figure but have not heard back.
