Council Tax: Government’s Proposed Increase

Jane Stevenson Excerpts

Monday 25th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jane Stevenson (Wolverhampton North East) (Con) [V]]

As a former councillor in Wolverhampton, I want to thank City of Wolverhampton Council for its work during the pandemic to get Government support to our most vulnerable residents. Delivering help at a local level is often more efficient and more effective, and I welcome the recent announcement of the holiday food and activities programme, which will be so beneficial to children in my constituency.

The Government have also provided a huge level of funding to local government to manage the pandemic. During the first lockdown, I drove a food parcel van each week out of the Aldersley food hub. Although it may have had a council logo whacked on every box, it was directly and entirely funded by this Conservative Government. I am very proud of that. A total of £148 million of covid funding has been channelled through Wolverhampton city council to support our businesses and our most vulnerable people in addition to un-ring-fenced funding—millions of pounds of additional support for food and essential supplies, for rapid testing for infection control, for the winter grants scheme and to help rough sleepers, among other things. Next year funding for my council from Government will rise by 4.6%.

I am sure that the political football of council tax will be continually kicked around, but what I want to speak about is value for money for their council tax for all our residents around the UK. I want to recognise the important work carried out by councils across the country, but I also want to use this speech to urge more people to hold their councils to account and to get involved in the decisions that shape council spending. I was disappointed at how few people took part in local budget consultations when I was a councillor. I know that attending such meetings might seem less attractive than an evening in the pub, but these decisions are important and affect local planning decisions and local services. I find that many people do not have a good understanding of where decisions are made. As an MP, I am called out on plans to pedestrianise the city centre, high salaries in the civic centre, the disastrous Civic Hall renovation and £130,000 being spent on award ceremonies. All these local decisions are made at council level.

As my constituency has a Labour council and is an example of a seat that will benefit from the Government’s levelling-up agenda, I will continue to push for more money to come to Wolverhampton, and I would like to hear our communities speak up at local level, ensuring that they get value for money and that this investment is wisely spent.