A petition urging Wandsworth Council to abandon its council tax increase has hit 3,000 signatures and nearly 5,000 shares.
Residents, who face a 94% rise in their council tax, are opting to support the independently led campaign to combat the council’s proposal.
The petition demands that Wandsworth residents “should not be expected to pay the price for political decisions or failures in council finances”.
The creator of the petition, Andrea Gilbert, accused both Labour and the Conservatives of “political showboating”, arguing that neither party is focussing on how to help residents practically.
As the increase was proposed by the Conservatives, who currently run the council, Wandsworth Labour has created a petition which has obtained more than 12,000 signatures.
Gilbert said: “What both parties need to be doing is lobbying central government to not do these cuts. So far you see the Conservative leader going outside with the banner, doing their own version of a protest. You’ve got Labour here doing a petition knowing full well that it is not going to go anywhere.”
Battersea resident Mohammad Maher Hamadouch, explained why locals decided to sign Gilbert’s petition rather than Labour’s.
He said: “Labour were in power for four years. You don’t get to make a petition a few months after you’ve left power, because you’ve had the chance to do what you could, and you didn’t do anything.
“Labour and Conservatives, you’re elected to help people, not help yourselves. Can we get to governing properly and with accountability?”
The increase comes from the implementation of the Labour Government’s Fair Funding Review, which saw various boroughs, including Wandsworth, have their central funding reduced.
To make up for the funding shortfall, the government has given these councils the power to raise their council taxes above the normal 5% cap.
Labour councillor Simon Hogg suggests that the immediate increase is unnecessary.
He said: “The Conservatives are whacking it up now so that they can cut taxes before the next election in four years’ time. They plan to bribe you with your own money and hope that you don’t notice.”
The Conservative Party blame Labour. Deputy Leader of the Council, Peter Graham, said: “Labour’s councillors failed to challenge their government’s cut. It’s not fair.
“The last thing we want to do is increase council tax. We have found more savings than the borough currently raises altogether in council tax. Sadly, it isn’t enough against a Labour government that regards Wandsworth bills as ‘artificially low’.”
Wandsworth has a history of low council tax, with many residents moving to the area specifically due to its low council tax. Now some are thinking of leaving the borough, Hamadouch claimed, as they face the prospect of paying between £639 and a whopping £1,916 extra per year.
There is already dissent within the community that the council tax paid by residents currently is not well spent.
Gilbert, who works as a housing advocate, said: “I’ve seen increases in the food bank usage, pensioners who need support and people who are disabled not getting access to the support that they need.
“We’re not going to give up.”
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