Council tax up 2.5pc after four-hour debate

Shoab Akhtar

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Councillors pulled back from the edge of chaos last night and passed the Liberal Democrats’ 2.5 per cent council tax increase.

But agreement only came after a four-hour budget debate, when the Lib-Dems were accused of blackmailing councillors, making the Conservatives scapegoats, and stifling democratic debate.

Last week, Lib-Dems leader Councillor Howard Sykes, whose party has tackled a £20 million budget deficit, told his council colleagues to “back me or sack me” over his 2.5 per cent council tax increase.

If the Tories joined with Labour and supported an alternative budget which would freeze council tax at this year’s levels, he said he would rather quit than pass a budget he said would lead to boom and bust.

Last night, the meeting began in angry disagreement after Councillor Sykes tabled two amendments to his own budget, which were followed by three from Labour.

The Mayor, Councillor Shoab Akhtar, was advised by senior officers that if the Lib-Dems’ first one was passed — to use £2.1 million to combat the credit crunch, improve the town and improve education and tackle unemployment — it rendered Labour’s amendments and its proposed council tax freeze nul and void, and they could not be debated.

The Lib-Dems are the largest group on the council at 30 and form the ruling administration, but Labour and Tory councillors, combined with independent Councillor Asaf Ali, also have 30.

The Mayor also has a casting vote when there is a tie.

An angry Tory Councillor, John Hudson, said: “We are cutting out democracy and we are between a rock and a hard place. The (Lib-Dems’) amendment is rubbish because it denies us democracy.”

And Labour Councillor David Jones said: “Any other discussion will be curtailed, which is contrary to the democratic process. For the first time in 28 years there will be no debate on Labour’s alternative budget.”

After two hours of debate about not being allowed to have a debate, with the vote split 30-30, the Labour Mayor used his casting vote twice to defeat the Lib-Dems.

Finally, councillors began debating the first of Labour’s amendments — which would have imposed the council tax freeze.

But then Tory leader Councillor Jack Hulme and his six colleagues revealed that they would be backing Councillor Sykes’ original budget, fearing the Labour proposals were too risky.

He said: “Once a nil budget has been passed there is no going back. If there is a subsequent need for additional financial resources, the only way of financing new expenditure is either a raid on balances or cuts, probably to front line services.”

When the final vote came, Labour councillors abstained, apart from Councillor Tony Larkin who voted against the Lib-Dems budget, but the seven Tory councillors supported it.