And MP Sarah Jones’s Croydon Central Constituency Labour Party has passed a motion calling on all party members to turn out on March 1 and “do everything we can to protest and oppose the 15per cent Council Tax hike, while lobbying government for a fair funding settlement”.
With hundreds of council jobs already axed since the council’s financial collapse in 2020, the unions are joining the campaign under the banner of “Croydon SOS: Save Our Services”.
They point to the £36million-worth of cuts that the council has been forced to make already in this financial year, and maintain that any further cuts to services risk putting Croydon residents in peril.
Rachael Baylis is the GMB union officer responsible for members at Croydon Council, and was instrumental in organising a meeting of the Croydon Trades Council to mobilise workers across the borough.
Baylis told Inside Croydon: “The GMB absolutely rejects the Mayor’s proposal of a 15per cent increase to Council Tax.
‘Our members are struggling’: GMB official Rachael Bayliss
“Many of our members are already struggling on low pay with the rising cost of living and no proper payrise in sight.
“There has been over a decade of cuts to local government, where services have been decimated. How is it fair that people will be asked to pay more Council Tax for less services?”
Baylis described the Council Tax hike as an “absolutely ludicrous proposal”.
She said: “There must be a better alternative, and it must come in the form of proper central government funding for councils.”
The motion passed by Croydon Central CLP said that it “notes that this extraordinary increase in Council Tax coincides with what the Office for Budget Responsibility says is the biggest fall in household incomes on record.
“Further notes that £36million of cuts have been made this year to council services – and therefore hard-pressed Croydon residents are being asked to pay more to get less.
“This CLP therefore agrees to: Participate in, and encourage members and supporters to participate in, community-led actions against the 15per cent Council Tax hike and support the demonstration outside the Town Hall on 1 March.”
Double trouble: twice as many Croydon South residents have signed the Parliamentary petition as those in Croydon North
Some 25,000 people have so far signed the petition to Croydon Council opposing the 15per cent Council Tax hike.
That petition will be presented at tomorrow night’s council budget meeting in the Town Hall Chamber, which is due to begin at 6.30pm. Protest organisers have asked their supporters to start to gather outside on Katharine Street around 5.30pm.
The separate, Parliamentary petition has achieved its initial target to force the government to respond to its premise that Council Tax increases above the national cap of 5per cent should not be allowed without a local referendum voting in favour.
The Parliament website provides a map which shows that opposition to the “Perry Premium” Council Tax hike is stronger in the traditionally Tory-voting south of the borough than it is in Labour-voting areas. More than 4,000 people in Tory MP Chris Philp’s Croydon South constituency have signed the national, Parliamentary petition so far, compared to 2,000 in Croydon North and 3,000 in Croydon Central.
“A 15per cent Council Tax increase will hit many of our members very hard indeed, especially in the middle of this cost of living crisis,” an official from one of the larger residents’ associations in the south of the borough told Inside Croydon.
“This is not what we campaigned long and hard for to change to a directly-elected Mayor. Many people feel very badly let down over this.”
SIGN THE PETITIONS HERE
Read more: 10,000 signatures! Now government has to answer our petition
Read more: Public’s furious reaction to Perry’s Premium Council Tax hike
Read more: Government to write off £540m of council’s debts
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