£1.5 million Government aid for Lambeth
Lambeth will take a £1.5m share of an extra funding boost for local councils announced in Gordon Brown's pre-budget report last year. The extra money, which can be spent on any council service, pushes the increase in Lambeth's grant up to 4.1%, above the rate of inflation. It puts the Council in a position where it should be able to avoid a repeat of the Conservative - Liberal Democrat administration's 23% tax hike in 2003. The Chancellor's £340m of grants comes at the same time as stern warnings from the government against repeats of last year's high Council Tax rises. The government has even threatened to cap councils like Lambeth which sting local residents with massive rises. John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, warned councils that, to avoid being capped, local authorities should be able to show that they have consulted their residents on significant Council Tax increases. Lambeth has conspicuously failed to act in this area, having avoided sending its budget out for any public consultation at all. Mr Prescott said "Council Tax payers do not want another round of high increases. If their councils think they do, why don't they allow local people to have their say in a local poll?" Cllr Dan Sabbagh, Labour Finance spokesperson,
said, "The message to Lambeth's Liberals is clear - you've got no
excuse for a repeat of last year's 23% tax hike or anything even close
to it. Of course we don't need a referendum to know what the voters of
Lambeth think about them, given that they rejected the Liberals so convincingly
in the Stockwell by-election."
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