Council Tax

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As a former Chancellor, the noble Lord will have detailed knowledge of this, and I am sure he made similar representations to his own Government. We all know that problems are caused by outdated valuations and the regressive nature of council tax. However, widescale reform of the council tax system at this stage would be time consuming and complex. We would still have winners and losers whichever way we did it. Instead, this Government are committed to fairer funding. We will start it in this year’s funding settlement, with a further review in the 2025 spending review.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that it would have been great if we had had a much higher threshold in the European referendum so that we could have avoided the disaster of Brexit? It has been particularly disastrous for farmers.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I hear my noble friend’s point, which he has made in the House several times before. The impact of Brexit is widespread, and I completely understand his point.