Reform’s Derbyshire County Council leader says a council tax cut would “affect residents badly” after election pledges to decrease annual bills for residents.
Cllr Alan Graves, a long-term Derby city councillor and now Reform’s Derbyshire County Council leader, said his administration felt stuck between a rock and a hard place over an impending decision on council tax.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he – as a more seasoned politician – was aware of the struggles of local government and pressure from Governments of any colour insisting that local authorities hike council tax by the highest amount possible in order to gain future national funding.
However, he said that many of his less-experienced 41 other Reform county colleagues “weren’t aware” of these long-term precedents.
This led to consistent pledges in the lead up to the May elections from successful Reform councillors that the party would “reduce waste and cut your taxes”.
Asked for a manifesto at the time, Reform’s national team said the party in Derbyshire would “lower council tax”.
Cllr Martin Bromley, successful Reform candidate in the Swadlincote East division in South Derbyshire, issued a post on Facebook during the election saying a vote for Reform would be a vote to “say no to increased council tax”.
Cllr Graves, nearly five months into control of the authority, said: “We were sent a directive from Government saying it expects us to increase council tax by the highest amount we possibly can and the implication in that letter was that it won’t be beneficial to the authority if we don’t.
“Reading between the lines we would be penalised if we didn’t.”
When it was put to Cllr Graves that his has been the case for many years, through numerous different Governments, he said: “It makes it very difficult because then we have to balance doing what the Government tells us to do, which also raises extra money for the council, but also do we want to be penalised if we don’t .
“Whilst we might be able to work out a balanced budget on lower council tax, it might be more detrimental to us if we do that because then we won’t be successful in getting other grants.”
Cllr Graves was again pressed on Reform’s pledge to cut council tax despite the historic precedent from Governments to ask local councils to increase it by the maximum amount.
He said: “No Reform councillor likes the idea of it. We haven’t made any decision. We are very annoyed that if we do what we want to do, the taxpayers and local residents of Derbyshire will be affected badly and we don’t want that to happen.
“It is balance, it is about what is the right thing to do.”
He said there needed to be a Reform Secretary of State that would change the system to allow local authorities to lower or retain council tax at the same level in line with inflation.
Cllr Graves said: “I am fully aware of the situation, I have been a councillor for a long time, but I have 41 other councillors that weren’t aware of that situation.
“Whilst our aim is to reduce council tax – and there will be a point where we reduce council tax – I am fully expectant that if LGR comes through we will be able to reduce council tax, and that is my hope on the horizon.”
