Wandsworth’s council tax is to be doubled next April the Tory-led council confirmed at a meeting yesterday, in what has been termed the country’s largest tax rise.
Peter Graham, deputy leader of the council, said there were no other choices after mismanagement from Wandsworth Labour and an incoming loss of £84million in central government funding.
Simon Hogg, leader of Wandsworth Labour, called the rise a selfish and political decision, and that the Conservatives had purposely concealed their intention to raise tax from the electorate in May.
“This decision is the end of the Wandsworth Tories,” he said.
Among the words thrown in what quickly became a tense council meeting, ‘liar’ and ‘lying’ from both sides stand out – a reflection of two very different worlds regarding Wandsworth’s finances.
In-between sits Malcolm Grimston, the only independent of Wandsworth’s 58 councillors.
“There’s an extraordinary gap between both,” Grimston said.
Representing West Hill since 1994, Grimston sat with the Tories until 2014 and has been elected as an independent since.
With 29 Conservatives and 28 Labour councillors, Grimston unexpectedly found himself unexpectedly important after the May council elections.
He currently works with the Conservatives to form a majority but has no formal role with them.
Speaking with the SWLondoner, Grimston said the Conservative’s view was closer to the truth but there was no doubt the tax rise would hurt across the spectrum of Wandsworth’s residents.
Grimston said that those most impoverished in the borough would be relatively cushioned but those just above the line, who earn what is a decent wage nationally though still struggle day-to-day, would be the hardest hit by a £1000 yearly rise on Band D properties.
“That’s an extra £20 a week you have to find.”
Conversely, Grimston said Labour’s view of Wandsworth finances was delusional.
After making false claims while in control, such as that council tax was frozen while it was in fact raised, Labour have described the proposed tax increase as an unnecessary return to austerity they would scrap as soon as possible.
“Amateurs (have) created chaos in our council,” Hogg said during the meeting.
“This is what you get when
“Do you even like the people of Wandsworth?” another Labour councillor called out.
This remark rubbed Grimston the wrong way.
“Every councillor is there because they care about their community,” Grimston said.
He likewise expressed confusion at exactly what Labour’s alternative was.
“It seems their strategy is to run the train into the wall and hope to get bailed out.”
With cuts of £84million in government grants coming to Wandsworth next year after the Fair Funding Review, more than currently raised by council tax, Grimston said there was an unavoidable need to raise money.
Conservatives claim to have found £79million in savings, partly from cuts to services, but this likewise would not meet the incoming budget gap.
Hogg said Labour would have used the council’s remaining reserves as well as 5% council tax rise each year to eventually meet the funding shortfall.
Grimston said this isn’t what reserves are for – and that the math doesn’t work anyway.
Acknowledging that Wandsworth Conservatives did not run on tax rises, and instead on claims Labour would raise taxes by a smaller amount than they have, Grimston believed politics on a national level were being played in Wandsworth.
4% of income tax raised by Wandsworth is given back to the council, compared to 12% nationally.
While he didn’t think everywhere should get exactly the same back, there is a sense Wandsworth is being punished for its history of low tax and successful financial management.
“We should get more,” he said.
With two of three Wandsworth MPs voting for Wandsworth’s own funding cut, the other being absent, he didn’t think this was particularly likely.
Featured image: Councillor Grimston at the 15 September council meeting. Still taken by Council Webcast
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