Site icon Inside Croydon

‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay’ to start if 15% tax hike goes through

insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor, on what could happen next if Mayor Perry gets his way over his unbalanced budget

Can’t Pay Won’t Pay: there’s likely to be more Town Hall protests over Mayor Perry’s 15% tax hike

A senior source connected to the local trades union movement is predicting that if – or when – the 15per cent Council Tax increase is pushed through, despite massive public opposition, the “Fund Croydon Fairly” people’s petition campaign will quickly evolve into a version of the “Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay” poll tax demonstrations which did so much to bring down Margaret Thatcher’s premiership in the late 1980s.

The widely respected figure believes that some Labour councillors will, eventually, perhaps at some point very late in the proceedings at the Town Hall budget-setting meeting tonight, decide that they have no choice but to abstain and so allow Perry’s Council Tax hike to pass, with support from the votes of Conservative councillors.

“The only way to defeat the 15per cent Council Tax rise and millions of pounds of more service cuts is through public pressure,” the campaigner told Inside Croydon.

“A fantastic campaign has already started, thanks in no small measure to your efforts. The ‘Fund Croydon Fairly’ campaign should continue to involve trade unions, community groups, residents’ associations and the wider public. If the government continues to dig in, it is likely there will be calls for a ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay’ campaign.

Split decision: Mayor Perry’s Tories don’t have enough Town Hall votes to push his unpopular 15% Council Tax and budget cuts through

“Croydon residents should not have to pay for a financial crisis which is not of their making.”

And the veteran campaigner was clear about who is really in charge at Croydon Council.

“Croydon’s major decisions at the moment are effectively controlled by the government. The improvement and assurance panel is operating very much as government-appointed commissioners would. Mayor Perry and the councillors are just ciphers. That’s been clear since December 2020.

“The council has virtually no leeway so far as its budget is concerned. The legal requirement to have a ‘balanced budget’ leaves very little room to manoeuvre.

“The further capital funds from the government are clearly welcome, but it’s dependent on the council continuing with severe austerity measures. These include the 15per cent Council Tax hike.

Perry’s ‘plan’: the Mayor will not accept any changes to his budget, which many suspect has been stitched up with the Tory government since November, delivering a political punishment to the Croydon public

“Unless something totally unforeseen happens, then Labour, the Greens and the LibDem will not be able to stop Perry’s budget getting through. Labour hasn’t tabled an alternative budget, but even if they did, they would never get the two-thirds majority this is required for such an amendment.

“They can keep voting down Perry’s budget. But as a decision needs to be made at this  meeting, they will have a choice of sitting there for hours or even days and if no budget is agreed the only end result is that the government commissioners come in or, after a lot of huffing and puffing, abstaining and allowing Perry’s budget through.”

And today, Perry dug in his heels by issuing a stubborn response which denied that he has ever had any Plan B.

Admitting that any 15per cent Council Tax rise will be embedded into Croydon residents’ bills for years to come, Perry wrote, “It is not a case of choices…This is not a choice we are making because we want to raise Council Tax. It is a necessity resulting from the years of historic mismanagement which have left this authority with hundreds of millions of pounds of budget gap and over £1.6billion of toxic debt.

“The only other possible solution would be to borrow another £66million over the coming three years. That would saddle the council with even more debt, even higher yearly payments to service the debt and repeat the mistakes of the past.”

Perry, who clearly doesn’t like “unsustainable” council borrowing, last week received a letter from a government minister who said he “is minded” to agree to Perry’s request for £224.6million of borrowing…

The £224.6million extra borrowing is even included in Perry’s little “budget to-do list”.

The Tories have rejected all possible suggestions from the opposition, including a proposal from the Greens which looks to use levies from developers to meet some of the budget gap. If Perry had included the Green proposal in a revised budget, he may have secured their two votes tonight and got his budget passed.

Instead, it will be presented as an amendment to Perry’s budget, and therefore require a two-thirds majority to pass, which ain’t going to happen.

THE PERRY PLAN: How Tory Mayor wants you to pay much more for much less

Read more: Councillors ready to vote against Perry’s 15% tax hike again
Read more: The solution to Perry’s finance problem: Fund Croydon Fairly

SIGN THE PETITIONS HERE


Exit mobile version