LABOUR this weekend [1.4.23] launched an ad van campaign in Thurrock reading ‘the Conservatives have raised your council tax by 10%’.
Labour are highlighting the choice voters face between a Tory government that has left people out of pocket and prioritised the wealthiest 1%, versus a Labour government that would put working people first.
In government, Labour would:
- Freeze council tax for this year, funded by a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants. Under the Tories, council tax bills are set to rise an average of 5%.
- Keep energy bills low for good by insulating 19 million homes.
- Stop the Tory decision to hand the richest 1% of pension savers £1 billion in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and instead introduce specific measures to keep doctors in work.
- Close the non-dom tax loophole, so people who live and work here pay their tax here, and use that money to fund the biggest expansion of the NHS workforce in history and Breakfast Clubs at every primary school.
Steve Reed, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, said:
“People across the country today are facing the worst cost of living squeeze on record, and that’s because the Conservatives have lost control of the economy. We’ve got the highest rate of inflation since the 1970s and, after the last Conservative budget, the highest rate of personal taxation for 70 years.
“What people really need right now is help, not another council tax rise, and the Tories are allowing council tax to go up by an average of 5% across the country.
“Labour is calling for a council tax freeze, funded by a proper windfall tax on the excess profits of oil and gas giants. That’s the choice that Labour would make in government. The Conservatives chose to raise taxes on working people and only give a tax cut to the one percent, and that is wrong.”
In Thurrock, where the Conservatives have effectively bankrupted the council, council tax has risen by a whopping 10%.
Jen Craft, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Thurrock, said:
“It is shocking that the Conservative council in Thurrock has raised council tax by 10% during a cost of living crisis.
“When I speak to people on the doorstep, they frequently tell me that they don’t know how they are going to make ends meet with the tax burden and the dramatic increase in food and energy bills.
“As ever, the people of Thurrock are paying the price for 13 years of Conservative mismanagement in Westminster, and the effective bankruptcy of our council by the Thurrock Tories.
“Under the Conservatives, people in Thurrock are paying more and getting less, as local services are slashed still further thanks to the reckless actions of those holding the purse strings.
“Thurrock desperately needs a Labour council and a Labour government that is on the side of working people.”
