David Cameron branded Brighton and Hove City Council’s plan to increase council tax a “huge mistake”.
The Prime Minister yesterday (November 23) urged the Green administration in the city to take up the Government’s offer of £3 million to freeze rates for households.
Taxpayers in Brighton and Hove are facing a 3.5% rise in 2012/13 after councillors branded the Government’s offer a “gimmick”.
The council said it believed residents would prefer the cash raised from the increase to be spent on public services.
Yesterday Brighton Kemptown MP Simon Kirby asked Mr Cameron about the decision during Prime Minister’s Questions at Westminster.
Council tax
Mr Kirby said: “Given the intention to freeze council tax, is the Prime Minister as astounded as I am that Green-run Brighton and Hove City Council are planning to decline £3 million of council tax grant, and are planning instead to raise council tax by 3.5%, so costing local taxpayers £4 million?"
The Prime Minister replied: “If they want the money for the council tax freeze the money is there, but if they reject it, as they plan to in Brighton, I think that’s a huge mistake, because they’re going to be asking families in Brighton to pay more at a time when they should be on their side.”
Mr Kirby told The Argus: “People are going through difficult times.
"It is for the Green councillors to remember that it is not their money, it is the people of Brighton’s money.
“To turn down the millions of pounds that the Government is offering is madness.
“I would ask the council to think very carefully about hard-working and old people who are really struggling to pay their council tax already.”
Balanced books
Mr Kirby said he suspected that Brighton and Hove will be the only council in the country to turn down the Government’s offer and then put up council tax.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s finance portfolio holder, Jason Kitcat, said accepting the Government’s offer would have meant residents having to pay more in the future to balance the books.
He said: “The majority of people in this city did not vote for either of the coalition parties and do not support their policies. This offer of a financial grant is a gimmick.
“This reinforces the fact that we are going against the Government’s wishes and that is why people elected us.
“People wanted something different; they wanted us to go against the cuts.”
Tax freeze
Last week the Government published details of the cash being offered to councils in an attempt to persuade them to freeze rates for the second year in a row.
Local authorities can claim the grant if they restrict rate increases to a maximum of 2.5%.
Critics have pointed out that next year’s offer is less generous than that made for 2011/12, as it does not include payments to cushion the effect of the freeze in future years.
That, the Greens say, means the council would be standing on a “cliff edge” the next time it set its budgets.
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