PMQs: Labour slammed by Buchan over ￡500 more council tax
Birmingham is now set to become the fourth major council to hike its council tax by a whopping 10 percent this year, after declaring itself effectively bankrupt in September.
The enormous hit to local residents’ wallets is double the legal maximum council tax increase permitted by the Government.
However the Labour-run authority wrote to the Government in December asking for permission to raise council tax well beyond the limit.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has now given the go-ahead for the increase.
In a written statement, Mr Gove slammed the council’s “significant financial mismanagement” and said they have launched a five-year intervention to tackle its “serious financial and governance problems”.
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Birmingham residents face paying hundreds more in Council Tax from April (Image: Getty)
He sympathised with hard-pressed Birmingham council taxpayers, saying it is “disappointing” they are having to “foot the bill for the council’s poor governance and decision making”.
He said: "Whilst the Government will not oppose this request given the seriousness of the circumstances, any decision to increase council tax is solely one for Birmingham City Council, who should have taken into account the pressures that people in Birmingham are currently facing on living costs.
“The Government is of course conscious of the effect on local taxpayers, particularly those on low incomes, of having to foot part of the bill for these Councils’ very significant failings.”
Birmingham will join Slough, Thurrock and Woking as the four councils in Wales and England set to implement a double tax hike.
The move will mean a bill increase of around ￡195 a year for a typical band D property.
In his Commons statement, Mr Gove described Thurrock, Slough and Woking as having experienced “significant financial failure”.
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Michael Gove slammed the "significant financial mismanagement" of councils (Image: Getty)
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Of the 10 percent increases in Thurrock and Slough, it will comprise 2 percent for adult social care spending and 8 percent for other expenditure.
The top Tory insisted that the Government is “committed to continuing to protect local taxpayers from excessive council tax increases”.
He also took a swipe at Labour, as the Welsh Labour Government has “refused to introduce any referendum protection for council taxpayers, leading to soaring council tax”.
Mr Gove added: “Indeed, under the last Labour Government in England, council tax bills more than doubled”.
Last week it emerged Mr Gove’s Levelling Up Department has told council bosses that they expect the maximum possible increase of 4.99 percent to hit all voters across the country from April.
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The move will pocket around ￡2billion for struggling local councils.
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In total seven councils have now issued so-called Section 114 notices since 2018, leading to a freeze in all non-statutory spending.
Northamptonshire County Council were the first local authority to do so for 20 years, however were swiftly followed by Slough, Croydon, Thurrock, Woking, Birmingham and Nottingham, with Middlesbrough on the brink of following suit.
Polling by the New Statesman this year revealed one in four councillors believe their authority will soon go bankrupt.
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