"Expecting the hardworking people of Bradford to take up the burden of austerity"
Tom Gibson from the Bradford Socialist Party calls out Bradford Council's leadership over their financial proposals at an executive meeting.
Bradford Council’s leadership has been told that the financial proposals they are putting forward are placing the burden of austerity on the hardworking people of Bradford.
Speaking at a meeting of the executive (budget) on 4 March, where he was presenting a petition, Tom Gibson from the Bradford Socialist Party said that many residents within the district feel like they’re paying more for less.
Calling out the proposed council tax rise of 9.99%, which usually requires a referendum but has been approved by the government, Gibson went on to say that it was one more thing for locals to contend with, many of whom are “choosing between heating and eating”.
“We were told by the national government before the general election that there would be no increased taxes on working people,” he went on to say. “Well, that's another broken promise following the keeping of the two child benefit cap, the end to the wind fuel allowance and the betrayal of the Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women.”
The leadership has a choice, Gibson elaborated, between what they are proposing and what he and fellow members of the Bradford Socialist Party see as a better alternative.
“Instead of voting through cuts, you could stand alongside trade unionists and community campaigners and fight to return the hundreds of millions of pounds stolen from our city by successive conservative governments, funding that could protect our valuable services and funding that could protect the jobs of the hardworking people who deliver those services,” he said.
Gibson suggested that one of the reasons that the leadership of the council had put through the proposal to increase council tax above the annual 4.99% maximum – the original request did also include an even higher increase of 14.99% – is because no local elections are taking place in the district this year.
Wrapping up, he said that working class people in Bradford deserve better. “They deserve a council that stands up and fights them rather than carrying out the austerity ordered by central government,” he continued.
“We need a council that will fight the earth for the funding that has been taken from the city. And next year, there will be elections – and we're very confident to say that the people of Bradford, who over the past month have expressed their outrage over these decisions, will go out and vote for people who will say that they are prepared to fight.”
The Conservative MP for Ilkley and Keighley, Robbie Moore, has also called out the proposed hike in council. Earlier this year, in January, he said that they would hit hardworking people the most – and bring them to “breaking point”.
He added: “We already know that residents across Keighley and Ilkley pay a significant proportion of Bradford Council’s annual tax collection, whilst 75% of the council’s unpaid council tax debt comes from Bradford city centre. Yet once again, it will be us picking up the tab for the council’s financial mismanagement.”
In response to criticism, Bradford Council said that it would be launching a £1.2 million hardship fund if the 9.99% increase is signed off.
“The hardship fund will provide crucial extra support for working age residents on low income who are already entitled to council tax reduction by lowering their council tax liability for 2025/6 by a further £30,” explained Susan Hinchcliffe, the Labour leader of Bradford Council.
“People in receipt of council tax relief are the most vulnerable to changes in income and we want to ease the burden on them of a council tax rise … It’s cold comfort I know but, even with this increase, the council tax Bradford Council charges will still be below average nationally.”