Labour members of Wandsworth council have just voted for an amendment to a motion committing themselves to “maintaining a low council tax“. Sounds good, right? Well, this amendment was to a Conservative opposition motion formalising the commitment Labour made during the council election campaign pledging to “reducing council tax by 1%”.  The non-specific replacement is clearly a softening of the policy. This comes despite the fact it was the key pledge made during the May election, in which Labour won control for the first time in 40 years.

Much of SW1 jumped on the Labour gain of this historic Tory stronghold, dubbed Thatcher’s “favourite council”, as a key victory in the local elections. Though it is now hard to see how it could be anything except a loss for Wandsworth residents. Wandsworth Labour are clearly following Sir Keir’s lead in maintaining campaign pledges…