The leaders of all eight Labour-controlled councils in London have pledged to freeze council tax next year.  That brings all the other London councils where Labour is in control into line with Lambeth which had already announced a two-year freeze earlier this year.  

With the Lib Dems promising ‘savage’ cuts and the Tories’ barely concealed glee at the thought of decimating public services, Labour in local government is demonstrating a different approach is possible.  By targeting waste rather than frontline services, Labour is able to protect services and save enough money to freeze council tax at the same time.

Since 2006, when Labour won control of Lambeth from a failing Tory-Lib Dem coalition, Labour has cut out £30m in waste left behind by the other two parties.  We’ve used that money to invest in desperately-needed services and freeze council tax for two years at the same time.  Residents are paying no more in council tax but are seeing new investment to provide more activities for young people, lunch clubs for older people in all our town centres, action that’s reduced gun, gang and knife crime, and a doubling of the budget to resurface crumbling roads and mend broken pavements. 

It’s worth remembering how the Tories and Lib Dems CUT services in Lambeth like the Kennington day care centre when they ran the council, but forced council tax up 40% at the same time.  People ended up paying more for less.   With Labour, people are not paying a penny more but are seeing extra services provided and existing services protected. 

After the waste and tax hikes of the Lib Dem–Tory years, that’s what we meant when Labour promised a council that’s “on your side”. 

Labour's council tax freeze: (left to right) Cllr Liam Smith (Barking & Dagenham), Mayor Jules Pipe (Hackney), Cllr Lutfur Rahman (Tower Hamlets), Cllr Chris Roberts (Greenwich), Cllr Clare Kober (Haringey), Cllr Steve Reed (Lambeth), Rt Hon John Denham MP (Secretary of State for Communities), Mayor Steve Bullock (Lewisham).